Casual Gamer on Remnant
by Bluhx2
Summary: Being a Gamer sounds fun? It is when you're in front of a computer. Gamer! Fic that doesn't feature an overly strong character.
1. Chapter 1

_A/N's at the bottom of the chapter._

 _I don't own RWBY, it belongs to Rooster Teeth. I do own my OCs, though._

* * *

 _It was dark._

 _I was walking down the street after buying some coca cola. It was just an ordinary night, except tonight, the streetlights seem to be flickering._

 _How ominous._

 _I walked past the flickering streetlight, opening the can of cola and feeling satisfaction at the hiss sound that it emitted._

" _Ah.." I gulped down some sweet cola. Refreshing._

 _I turned a corner._

 _It was a mistake._

 _It was too dark._

 _I should have heard the footsteps._

 _There was no one in the fucking streets, how did I not hear him?_

 _A hand came from behind me and gripped my mouth. The hand was coarse and rough with use. A man. He growled at me and I felt something cold at my back._

 _Oh shit._

" _Give me the money, boy, and I'll probably leave you alive."_

 _I would have probably quipped something at him if I didn't feel the fucking cold metal on my back._

 _Instead, I just bit down on my attacker's hand._

" _Shit!" The man hissed, letting go of my face._

 _I dropped my cola and ran for my life. "Help!" I screamed._

 _There was a gun shot._

 _Pain erupted from the left part of my chest then itwassuddenlyeverywhereelseohmygod-_

 _Blood leaked out from the wound. I screamed even harder._

 _Lights were turning on, people started to realize something was wrong._

 _I saw a head peak out of a window and call someone on the phone. The cops are coming._

 _The criminal probably realized this too and growled. "Fucking kid, you could have made this easier on yourself."_

" _But if I'm going down, then you're going down with me, you bastard."_

 _And then I knew no more._

… _Well, I would have. But after that, I was.. floating, for the lack of a better term._

 _I don't know how to describe it. After I died (and I know I died because I got shot in the fucking head and let me tell you, that hurts), I was ejected out of my body. Hell, when I looked down, I saw my body lying down, gunshot wound on my left chest probably puncturing a lung if it didn't hit my heart, then a shot to the head. The criminal was already running away and civilians were gathering around the crime scene._

 _I gazed at the corner I dropped my cola and felt a twinge of regret._

" _Poor cola." Looks like I could talk as a ghost._

 _Then after that, I wasn't there anymore._

 _It was dark here. I couldn't see anything at all. It was kind of infuriating, really. I tried to move but I felt something resist my movements. When I tried to move again, I felt something else beside me._

 _Am I in Hell?_

…

 _Pfft._

 _Yeah, no._

 _It wasn't incredibly painful to be in this sort of stasis, it was just really, really boring. I had no clue on what I was supposed to do to entertain myself and I didn't want to move to risk hurting the person beside me. Maybe he or she got shot like me and is taking a quick ghost nap. Hell if I know._

 _But whatever, if I'm gonna be stuck here, I might as well dream._

* * *

 _289.._

 _290.._

 _291.._

 _292.._

 _Uhh.._

 _Fuck._

 _I don't know how long it's been since I got in this stasis. It's been incredibly boring so far, but the good news is that my friend in here got moving and fidgeting. Sometimes, he or she kicks. Great really, but he or she feels.. pudgy._

 _I have a sinking feeling in my stomach._

 _I ignored it._

 _And ignoring it had its benefits._

 _In front of me was a blue screen._

 _It, in all intents and purposes, was a stat screen._

 _I squint my eyes as I read it. Apparently, I had S.P.E.C.I.A.L stats and then there were skills below it. I thought about using my weird pudgy ghost arms to swipe down but I didn't need to, since it apparently scrolled on its own._

 _Neat?_

 _There were a variety of skills. Barter, Speech, Guns, Melee, the like. I don't know, these all seem familiar.._

 _Wait.._

 _I recognize that Speech thing._

 _Isn't that the Fallout Meme?_

… _Where am I?_

 _And finally, I realized._

 _I'm on a rebirth aren't I?_

 _With the gamer ability?_

 _Wow. Great. Neat._

 _Suddenly, the world turned.. gray._

 _Monochrome._

 _Another blue screen appeared in front of me, in front of my stat screen. It was not translucent like my stat screen and was fully opaque. There was a white border around it and the corners were rounded, colored gray. There was a sentence and a few choices. A few choices I recognized all too clearly._

 _ **SELECT DIFFICULTY**_

 _ **Easy – Want a break?**_

 _ **Normal – Average.. Everything's normal.**_

 _ **Hard – Everything's a bit harder..**_

 _ **Insane – You're a fucking maniac.**_

 _ **Lunatic – Death on birth.**_

 _I'm not a moron._

 _I select_ _ **Easy**_ _._

 _The screen shrunk and the typical_ _ **'Are you sure?'**_ _prompt appeared. I selected Yes and got on with it._

 _The stat screen enlarged when the prompt disappeared. I looked around and the world was still monochrome, meaning this was something I needed to do. Allocate stats. Sigh._

 _I looked over my stats. S.P.E.C.I.A.L. I know it's from Fallout, but I have absolutely little idea on what they are supposed to do. I know what they mean; Strength, Perception, Endurance, Charisma, Intelligence, Agility, and Luck but I had no idea what they—_

 _Oh._

 _How convenient._

 _So it maxes out at 10.. and minimum is 0. I glanced at my SPECIALs and saw them all even at 5 and 5 extra points to spend, so I can use 40 points in total._

 _So.._

 _What do I do?_

 _Well, I always wanted to be.. strong and fast?_

 _I was a smart person before but really, I was just a little bit above average. I rubbed my chin as I thought about my stat allocation. I can't change the way I build this. Sure, clothes and equipment can add on but they still won't change my base SPECIALs._

 _What if I get born on a world of peace?_

 _What if a world of war?_

 _And so I waited._

 _.._

 _Fuck that._

 _First, I removed all the points from my SPECIALs, reducing them all to 0, giving me 35 additional points and 40 total points to spend._

 _Second, I allocated 8 points to Strength, 3 points to Perception, 5 to Endurance, 2 to Charisma, 7 to Intelligence, 10 to Agility, and 5 to Luck._

… _Charisma scaled with Speech and my social skills._

 _I winced._

 _Looks like I won't be getting any social life soon. Fuck._

 _I confirmed the allocation._

 _Suddenly, everything changed. I felt.. weird. Awkward. 2 Charisma sucks. But I felt smarter, faster, stronger. Hell, I felt like a million bucks if not a bit awkward._

 _The monochrome faded around me._

* * *

 _ **GOOD LUCK, PLAYER..**_

 _And then the screaming started._

It took me awhile, but I realized the screaming was my mother doing contractions and forcing me out through vaginal birth. I screamed in return, as I did not expect this being the way of my spawning, and the disgust of going through a woman's vagina.

Everything was huge.

The blobs of who I guessed were the doctors considering they were white towered over me and were sort of terrifying to be honest. I will not deny the fact that I screamed as they got close to me.

However, my new mother was not done.

She was still screaming and doing contractions, and I realized.

The other person was my _twin_.

I didn't have a twin in my previous life, nor did I have any siblings, which made growing up with a helicopter parent hard. An Asian helicopter parent, nonetheless. I don't know how I'll fare with a sibling in this new world, but I hope it's a good relationship.

I don't know how long it's been. My mother is no longer screaming, but gritting her teeth as she held the wrist of a yellow-faced man, who I assume is my father and is not actually yellow faced but blonde. I was waiting for my new twin to arrive. Would we be identical or fraternal? I was anxious.

Finally, the baby came out. My mother gasped and hissed, and then sighed in relief. The baby was put in a separate place, so I don't know where she is.

It annoys me to no end how I still can't see past the blobs so I can't see any expressions. My ears were finally starting to get a bit better, seeing as I can make out a few words here and there. Still can't replicate them though, but I expect my vocal cords to be better around my 6th month.

"… healthy… Aura… safe…"

"… name..?"

The world was monochrome again, and another prompt appeared in front of me. It held a few simple words.

 **WHAT IS YOUR NAME?**

Wow.

Okay.

I guess I should keep it realistic. Since I'm alive now, I don't wanna name myself something stupid like Dick Face or Sucker or something stupid. I brought up my stat screen and saw nothing of my "avatar". Instead, I looked at my mother.

Despite the monochrome, her eyes stood out among the rest.

Crimson.

I made my choice.

I heard her say it herself.

"… Crimson.. –son Branwen."

* * *

I'm 2 now.

Time sure flies by.

Yeah.

 _I'm bored._

I idly move a few blocks around, rearranging them to spell POOP. Childish, I know.

I'm a child.

I heard a snort behind me, seeing my twin sister giggle as she read my rearrangement.

I shrugged.

The language wasn't actually different to my old one, English. It was pretty much the same all things considered, with a few minor changes, though nothing my new baby mind will have any trouble absorbing. I learned the language as soon as I was one and a half, surprising my father and the new woman beside him, who I knew for a fact wasn't my mother.

My mom left me when I was born.

How quaint.

I'll never forget her, though. Her eyes were Crimson, and I'm named Crimson. It's hard to forget something when you're fully aware of your birth mother and the circumstances of what happened and how.

Not because I love her or anything.

Not at all.

I don't cry at night because I miss her.

No.

Really.

My sniff betrays me.

Anyway!

Thankfully, I didn't die of boredom in the last two years. In my previous life, I was an utter couch potato. While I wasn't exactly fat, I was still extremely lazy, which I want to change in this new life I have. I can't afford to be lazy, not when monsters can be literally outside our doorstep.

When I was a little younger than 2, I overheard my dad, Taiyang, and my step mom, Summer, talk about something called Grimm (the details of the conversation slip by, but I think it was a failed experiment something?). Now, I may not be that intelligent—

 _Perception Check Success: 3/3_

See, even the game agrees- wait..

Fuck you, game.

I may not be intelligent, but in this new world, I have a drive for knowledge. It may be the 7 points in Intelligence that I put, but I bet I would have still tried to dig up information about Grimm stuff before I died.

On the how I dug up the information?

Well, when there's books everywhere and you know how to read, things tend to not be secret.

I read a few things about Grimm and instantly knew that they would be my source of EXP when I grow up or something. They just screamed out _dungeon monster_ and the bloodlust inside me was screaming at me to kill something.

I don't know, I'm probably messed up.

Bloodlust aside, I was actually really excited. I was reborn on a world with a sister, a caring dad, an awesome step mom and I _know_ that there are monsters here. And it's written on a _book_ , which means that it's public knowledge that the Grimm exist.

 _Intelligence Check Success: 7/5_

Nice.

Anyway, step mom was out and so was Dad. They didn't tell us where they were going and Yang was awfully confused on why they left, though the confusion was gone as quick as it came when our uncle, a Qrow Branwen (I noticed our similar last names) was told to basically babysit us while they went to God knows where.

Or if I'm right, the Hospital. Summer was pregnant after all.

"Cwimson!" Hello, Yang. "Cwimson!" Her lilac eyes shined with the sparkle of mischievousness. "Look!"

I looked.

It was POOP.

Of course.

She giggled uncontrollably while I just snorted and started to look around.

Qrow was over by the sink looking bored out of his mind as he watched us play. Typical. I would be bored watching kids too, much less two kids that had opposing personalities.

 _Perception Check Failure: 3/4_

For Christ's sake.

Well _I_ was bored out of my mind. Mom and dad have been gone for awhile, like, 4 hours or so. While Yang and I were doing blocks _now_ , that doesn't mean we didn't do other things awhile ago.

For instance, she wanted to play Tag awhile ago. I didn't want to, but she tagged me anyway.

We had a stare off.

My pride demanded I tag her back, so I stood up and _tried_ to tag her.

She dodged.

 _Fuck._

She ran as far as her little legs got her, but I was, without a doubt, faster. Thank you, 10 Agility. 8 Strength helped, too, and the 5 Endurance was certainly enough to help me not get tired.

However, 2 Charisma did not help me. At all.

Yang's laugh trailed off as she looked at me with this _look_ I can't quite explain.

 _Is that pity?_

"Did I make you mad?" Her voice quivered. "I'm sorry!"

"I'm not mad," I said quickly, trying to do damage control. "Sorry."

We were quiet.

"Okay," my twin said doubtfully. Thankfully, she didn't prod any further. We played a few more games after that, a little less physically extensive because she learned that I was her better at most things physical.

Now I'm in this position, sitting firmly at the carpeted floor, staring at Qrow who was staring back at me.

I called him over. "Uncle Qrow!"

Yang perked up and looked over to him. "Uncle Qwow!" D'aw.

Qrow snorted at the way Yang called him and walked over. Suddenly, I felt really really small in height comparison as I looked up to him. Thankfully, he kneeled down to be at mostly face to face with us small mortals. I said mostly because I still had to look up.

"When are mom and dad going to come home?" I asked him with the most innocence I can gather as a 2 year old.

A lot, apparently.

His gaze softened and he smiled. It made him look at least a little fatherly. "They'll be right back, don't worry about it, kid."

I nodded numbly as I process it. So they're going to come back within the day? I thought that people who gave birth had to stay at the hospital for at least a little bit more time.

Unless I'm missing something here. I probably am.

Qrow took a few steps back and sat down on the floor as Yang and I played with the blocks again. Well, Yang played and I looked and built towers. It was an interesting phenomenon, Yang had a strange look of concentration on her face as she rearranged the letters to spell out her name and mine (one ended up being Yam) and my look of focus as I carefully stacked the blocks on top of each other, careful to not make it fall apart.

It's a lot harder than it sounds.

While Qrow amuses himself by messing with Yang("Hey, Yang. I bet you can't find the monkey in the mirror." "I bet you I can!"), I look over my block tower of 6 stacked blocks and drift off.

Well, to the outside world that is.

In reality, I was checking my stat box. My SPECIALs were still the same, no surprise. My skills were a different thing. There was no sort option, but thankfully, the associated stat was already within a parentheses next to it.

 **Crimson Branwen (LV. 1)**

 **Health: 150**

 **Aura: -/-**

 **Semblance: ?**

 **Experience: 150/1000**

 **S – 8**

 **P – 3**

 **E – 5**

 **C – 2**

 **I – 7**

 **A – 10**

 **L – 5**

 **Skills:**

 **Speech (Charisma): 9**

 **Barter (Charisma): 9**

 **Bladed Melee (Agility): 25**

 **Blunt Melee (Strength): 20**

 **Unarmed (Endurance): 15**

 **Small Guns (Agility): 25**

 **Big Guns (Strength): 20**

 **Lockpick (Perception): 10**

 **Repair (Intelligence): 18**

 **Smith (Intelligence): 18**

 **Computers (Intelligence): 18**

 **Sneak (Agility): 25**

 **Medicine (Intelligence): 18**

 **Aura Manipulation (Intelligence): 18**

 **Available Points: 0**

Nothing's changed still. That's unfortunate. I haven't gotten any EXP since I learned how to walk and talk. I need a source of experience to maybe grind off of. I don't know much about Fallout since I never played it, but the numbers feel small.

Actually, can I know the limit to the skills?

A prompt appeared next to the **[Bladed Melee (Agility)]** skill.

 **25/100**

100?

I checked the other skills and all of them had a maximum value of 100. I barely stopped a grin from taking over my face, noting that Qrow noticed that I had stopped building and was spaced out.

I wonder though..

Nah, I probably wouldn't be able to try it out until I get a hold on a sword. Or anything bladed really. I really want a sword though. Damn, this ability is broken.

* * *

I was only 5 years old when I found out that Summer died.

It was.. sad. Depressing.

I couldn't shake off the grief on dad's eyes, nor the sadness in Yang's. Ruby was still a little too young to understand on

why we were sad. I think it's only because of her that we're still hanging on.

Glue to a broken family.

Ruby really was a little blessing.

I sighed and watched Ruby as she slowly fell asleep, her breaths turning into deep snores and still body going asleep. I was going to go asleep myself but as I got out of the room, Yang appeared around the corner.

I almost jumped, because the last time _that_ happened, _I died._

Thankfully, it was only Yang. She was distraught. Worried, and angry. I can't see what she was thinking, but I can feel with her. We could _feel_ each other. If only through the Aura we have connected. Dad says it's a twin thing, and I'm inclined to believe him.

"Summer wasn't our mom." She whispered.

A water drop.

A gust of wind.

The moonlight filtered in from an open window.

I was silent as I looked at her, gaze hardening and mouth opening to retort something that would have been harsh if she had not corrected herself.

"No—I mean, not our _real_ mom. The mom that made us. _You know._ " She used airquotes on that. I almost laughed if this wasn't a real situation.

"Yang, our _real_ mom," My voice dripped with sarcasm. "Would have left us when we were born. I don't care who it is, Mom's the real one who raised me."

"Crimsonlook at _Dad_ ," Yang stubbornly refuses to back down on this. "He's.. He's so _sad_!"

And he is. Dad's been depressed ever since Summer died. He hasn't been quite the same ever since. He always had this faraway look in his eyes, and I'm scared. For him.

"What do you think we could do for him?" I whispered harshly, not caring for my tone. "What, we find our mom then we bring her back so everything could be fine?"

"What do _you_ care? You don't care about anything!" Yang snapped.

It felt like a slap to the face.

My eyes widened and I fell back. My cheeks stung. My eyes water.

I _did_ care. I cared for Summer more than I cared for anyone back in my previous life. Losing her _hurt_ , and no way in hell was I not unfeeling. No. Not at all.

 _Why would you think that?! I'm.. I'm not a heartless bastard!_

"I… I.." I stuttered. I haven't stuttered in _years._

"No—wait! Crimson!" I didn't listen, I'm already out of the hall and into my own room.

It was bare, a desk with a few things on the table (mostly some pens and a few pieces of paper with a desk lamp and mini fan), a dresser and my bed, which had the blankets thrown off and me taking its place.

I was mentally 22.

 _But why did her words sting so much?_

* * *

I woke up the next morning quiet and not refreshed.

 _I need a shower._

I grabbed a towel and grabbed a non-descript red shirt and black shorts. My eyes were heavy and my feet were dragging.

 _I don't care._

I opened my door and I slung the towel over my shoulder. I yawned, putting a fist over my mouth as I tried to quell my sleepiness. Today would be a day.

I smack my lips as I walk towards the bathroom. I opened the door, my arms stretching as I grab the knob, twist, and open.

I closed the door and locked it, placed my towel on the sink, then stripped.

I opened the shower.

It almost felt like it was back home.

Back before I died.

 _Now's not the time to think about that._

Now not the time to think about..

I choked. _Mom._

And so I let the tears flow out. The shower continued to pound my head, the soap in my hands forgotten as I sunk to my knees and cried my heart out.

I miss her.

I miss Mom.

It was half an hour before I finally stood up and went out the bathroom, in which Taiyang, dad, was already out there waiting for me to finish.

When I got out, he looked at me, concerned. He probably noticed my puffy eyes.

"Crimson, are you alright?" He asked, concern evident on his tone and face.

I tried to smile, but my voice is flat. "I'm fine."

 _Speech Check Failure: 9/10_

He frowns. "Crimson…"

"I'm _fine,_ " I insisted. I rubbed my eyes and tried to give the brightest smile I can. It fails.

 _Speech Check Failure: 9/15_

 _God damn it._

"Son…" My dad calls me. "I'm always here for you. For all of you. You know that, right?"

I release a breath I've been holding back. "I know." I say quietly.

And I left.

I went downstairs to get breakfast. Yang is already there with Ruby, feeding her some mix of cereal and soft foods. I don't know. _I don't care._

No.

I care.

Yang notices me dragging myself over to the table, concern lighting up her face. She whispers something to Ruby, which she nods to, and walks over to me.

"Crimson-"

"It's fine. It wasn't your fault," I stop her. "You're right, anyway."

 _Charisma Check Failure: 2/3_

 _Fucking hell._

Yang frowns. _You too?_ "No, I'm not."

"Excuse me?" I glare at her. "You told me yourself!"

"I was mad, that's different!" She stubbornly argues. "And it's not that you don't care, it's that.. well.. you can't?" She tries to explain it, but can't.

I can't explain myself either. I don't understand myself, and it scares me.

I take a deep breath. "Let's just.. forget it, alright?"

Ruby looks between us worriedly and murmurs something I couldn't catch before indulging herself into cereal.

Yang and I were silent as we eat our own cereal. I didn't want to destroy the fragile peace we had between us.

Afraid of ruining our friendship.

Our ties.

Our bonds.

I can't afford to do that.

Not when I just lost someone I loved.

"I know where she is." She suddenly says quietly. Ruby heard her whisper over the silence of the room, the only other sound was the showering sounds originating from the shower above. "I found her."

I glance at her. "So?"

She glares. "We bring her back. Then _maybe_ Dad can be happy again."

Probably not. There's probably some big reason on why our mom left in the first place. Maybe they had a fight and the romance didn't work out?

Maybe.

I sighed and poked at my cereal. "You're going anyway even if I don't come with you."

She nods.

I scowled. "Are you bringing Ruby?"

"Yeah."

"Fine, I'll come. If only to protect you two." I puffed up.

 _Speech Check Failure: 9/15_

 _Fuck you, game._

Yang just giggled, though there was a twinge of nervousness, and went back to eating her cereal.

* * *

It would be a few hours later when Taiyang left for something that Yang led us to the forest.

The sun was up but the shadows the trees cast overhead was ominous.

I had an odd feeling in my stomach, but I tried to ignore it in favor of finishing the quest I received when Yang, Ruby and I left the house.

 **Quest Added: Big Black Wolf**

 **Follow Yang in her lead to your Mother**

Well if _that_ wasn't ominous, I don't know what is. The quest title gives me the heebie jeebies too.

 _Big Black Wolf.. Big Black Wolf.._

I'm wracking my mind for any information of a big black wolf, and nothing's popping up so far. I must have a weird look at my face though, 'cause when Ruby looked at me, she scrunched up her face then giggled.

Huh.

Anyway, Yang was confidently following her 'lead', seemingly not tired yet. The walk itself wasn't really far, but it went into the forest and I'm pretty sure I heard Dad say _not to go into the forest_ , in which I kept reminding Yang before we went inside.

Sigh.

She was currently pulling along a wagon with Ruby inside, who was gleefully looking around and observing the woods. She giggled whenever she saw a butterfly, and gasped when she saw something move. Her pudgy 3 year old arms were waving and trying to touch the woodworks, in which I gently slapped her away from.

Odd kid.

It's been a while since we started trekking. Yang's showing her first signs of fatigue, breathing heavily and slowing down. I had started breathing heavily a few minutes back too, but I tried to suppress it to not worry anyone.

I see Yang get more and more frustrated as a few sticks whacked her when she moved them away. She growled as she pulled a few off and threw them away.

"Nice arm." I idly compliment.

She snorted. "Thank you."

We walked several more minutes and I still have no idea on where we're going. Yang seems to know though so I trust her judgment.

Finally, after a several minutes.. or more.. of walking, getting bruised, walking, tiring ourselves out, and _walking_ , we finally arrived at our destination.

It was a building. It wasn't very big, but it was obviously abandoned. There were cracks at the side and it looked pretty dusty. One of the windows were shattered and looking beneath it I saw its shards on the grass below. If the building had any paint before, it's gone now, seeing as the building is as gray as the cement used for it.

 **Quest Updated: Big Black Wolf**

 **Completed: Follow Yang in her lead to your Mother**

 **Survive**

… what?

Survive?

How many times have I said Oh shit in my new life?

This should be another one of that moment.. or moments.

Suddenly, three wolves came out of the brush, red eyes gleaming as they snarled at us. Yang screamed in fear, as she back pedaled and hit the wall of the gray building. Ruby froze, her silver eyes looking at the three wolves, pitch black in color, red eyes.. Grimm.

So _these_ were Grimm.

I pushed the cart towards Yang's position, making Ruby stumble and cry out in fear inside the cart I stood protectively in front of Ruby and Yang and lifted my shaky arms in front of me.

Shaky?

Was I.. scared?

Of course I was.

If I messed this up I would _die_.

Now that normally wouldn't bother me, but I also had two other people behind me, two _children_ who would have more reasons and more stuff to live for.

And.. they were family.

I couldn't allow them to die, now can I?

Something surged inside me. It was warm, but I didn't care. A prompt appeared at the side of my vision, idly noting something about EXP, but I quickly dismissed it as I looked at the dark wolves in front of me, putting on my best brave face.

"Crimson!" My sister screamed.

"Get inside!" I ordered them, my voice shaky. Damn. "I said _get inside_!"

I don't know if they did but I _didn't hear anything._ God damn it.

And it was at that time that the wolves moved.

They pounced at me, intending to kill. My eyes narrowed as I rolled to the side, making the three pounce on the wrong place.

I took the opportunity of their miss and hit one of the wolves in the side, making it yelp and back off.

 _Wait.._

 _My hit shouldn't have done damage, should it?_

Ignoring it, I back away again as it clawed me, making me hiss in pain.

 **-73 HP**

Aw shitake mushrooms.

My wounds, three slashes on my chest bled, and a DOT effect applied itself to me. _Bleeding_. No shit.

 **-1 HP**

 **-1 HP**

Fuck, I'm on 75 left. Half health. I'm not too keen on finding out what happens when I get to 0.

I felt another surge of power inside me, and this time, it felt weird. _Warm._ It flooded my body and into my wounds, and it was weird because I _felt it heal._

 **Aura Manipulation Check Success: 18/15**

 **+20 HP**

What? I idly notice my wounds closing up and I took the chance to back up, I read the new prompt quickly and a smile blossomed on my face. _A fighting chance_.

 **Perk earned: Aura Surge**

 **A perk even newbies can do. Heals user lightly and cures bleeding effect.**

Oh nice, I got 150 EXP for that too.

I'm back to 95, but that was more than enough for me to dart to the side as the wolves tried to slash at me again.

This was still a bad situation, but at least I had some sort of a fighting chance now. I raise my fist and waited for one of them to jump at me again, waiting for a chance.

 _Now._

One of the wolves got tired of waiting and pounced.

I slid under him, and my hand was coated in wind.

 _What?_

 **Aura Manipulation Check Success: 18/15**

I punched.

I don't know how to describe it, but when I sucker punched that wolf in the gut, the wind expanded and threw the wolf off me, launching it high in the air then landing it beside me. I quickly grabbed the heaviest rock I found and dropped it into its head.

It worked.

The wolf disintegrated, leaving me bewildered, tired, and scared.

 **Perk earned: Vortex Fist**

 **Unique Perk! A wind coated fist that expands when it hits something.**

Another 150 EXP! I would be jumping in joy if I wasn't in any—oh.

The two Grimm vanished already, disintegrating into the black particles their friend came from.

And standing in the middle of the two was _Qrow._

Qrow holding _a big ass sword, holding it to his shoulder, glancing at me with a dull smirk._

"Nice job, kid."

My opinion of my uncle skyrocketed.

 _He looked like the total epitome of a badass._

"Wow." I'm looking up at him with shock and gratefulness. "That was.. so cool."

"Well if I'm right about you, you're probably going to do more than that, kiddo," He knelt beside me and checked me for any other wounds beside the scratches and the scar in my chest. "So tell me, what did you feel when you sucker punched that Beowolf in the gut?"

Beowolf? That's what they were called? "Warm."

"Warm?" He raised a brow.

"Yeah." I nodded as he pat me on the back and stood up. "Like something _flowed._ "

He nodded in understanding. "Well, I'd say you're pretty lucky. You survived a Beowolf attack, unlocked your Aura and Semblance all in the same day," He narrowed his eyes. "But what the hell are you doing out here alone?"

 _Alone?_

"O.. Oh no.. Yang!" I panicked. Qrow's eyes widened as he looked around, spotting the cart next to the door. A mop of yellow popped out of the door. Yang, staring at me, wide eyed left the building with Ruby behind her, hugging her waist.

"W-wow.. Uncle Qrow?" She whispered.

Ruby was looking at our Uncle with stars in her eyes. I understand her feelings.

But Uncle Qrow was simply glaring at us, then he smirked.

"Your dad is gonna have a _few_ words with you brats."

When I looked at Qrow, I swear, he had this trollish look on his face. This very _very trollish_ look on his face.

I take back everything I said.

FFFFFUUUUUUUUUUU-

 **Quest Complete: Big Black Wolf**

 **Complete: Survive**

 **Complete: (Optional) Kill a Beowolf**

 **Complete: (Secret) Unlock Aura and Semblance**

 **+400 EXP**

400 EXP for that bullshit? What the hell?

Wait a minute..

I..

Fanfare?

I took a peek at my stats screen again and I was pleasantly surprised.

I had gone up a level.

 _YES!_

I got 17 points for skills to use, but none on SPECIALs. Figures, I can't change it. I took a look at everything. I glance and see _Unarmed_ higher than before, 3 points higher to be exact, putting it at 18.

I.. don't know where to spend it on.

I don't wanna do _Unarmed_ because I _know_ I would die doing it. I don't like punching things, especially when they hurt. And my new semblance, Aerokinesis, probably doesn't compliment it that much. Unless I get creative.

Wait, my semblance scales off Aura Manipulation, right?

I put 7 points into Aura Manipulation, putting it up to 25 Points. Neat. I have 10 points left, but I should probably leave it alone for now.

I see Qrow finish up with my sister's, leaving Yang with a guilty but resolute look on her face and Ruby still has stars in her eyes. He glances at me for a second, seeing me lost in thought.

Oh don't worry about me Qrow.

Worry about the Grimm that's going to _die when I finally figure out what I need to do_.

* * *

Qrow sat back at the Living Room as he watched Taiyang finish chewing his children out. As expected, Yang and Ruby were ashamed, and they both went to their respective rooms. Meanwhile, Crimson still had the lost look in his red eyes. It made Qrow pause whenever he looked at the child, since he looks like a male copy of his missing sister but was so _different_ in personality.

It was weird watching him, like he knew more than he should. A maturity beyond a child of his age, matched only by his lack of tact.

As they went up to their rooms, Taiyang sighed and dragged himself over to the Living Room and plopped down next to Qrow.

"Fuck.. I just lost _Summer_. Qrow.. If there's anything I could do for you, I'll—"

"Don't worry about it, Tai," He waved him off. "Really, you should worry more about your son."

He freezes. "What? What happened to him? Did something bad happen? Did he get injured? Internal? A sickness?" When Taiyang started to panic, Qrow simply chuckled and put a hand on his shoulder to calm him down.

"Nah. Tai, I think your kid is a prodigy."

Everything paused.

"Qrow.. what exactly happened?"

Qrow shrugged and rubbed his chin. "I don't really know. When I got there, I saw your kid. He was _healing_ himself with Aura."

" _Healing?_ " Taiyang was disbelieving. To be honest, Qrow would be calling bullshit too since the kid was obviously 5. He shouldn't even have enough control on it yet. But Qrow knew what he saw, and what he did _right after._

"Yeah, there were 3 Beowolves, and he was probably mauled. There's a three slash scar on his chest if you didn't notice."

"O-oh god.." Taiyang started to tremble. "My poor son's gonna live with the memory of _nearly dying to a Beowolf_."

"Actually," Qrow corrected him. "The kid looked pissed."

Taiyang paused again. " _What?"_

"Your son is weird. I told you he was a prodigy, right? After he healed himself, he baited a beowolf to jump for him. Slid right under the bastard, and I saw wind explode under the thing. He used his _Semblance_ too." Qrow sighed. "You might want to bring it up to him, see if he wants to learn how to be a –"

" _No, Qrow,"_ Taiyang firmly stated. "Not until they're older. I'm not letting him be a child soldier."

"He's not going to be a child soldier!" Qrow pinched the bridge of his nose. "I'm just saying, that you could train him a little. Maybe. I don't _care_ how you do it, but I know what I saw and feel. He's a _prodigy._ "

The two men were silent.

Taiyang broke it by sighing. He dragged a hand through his blonde hair. "Look—fine, I'll give him the test I give to Signal students. Aptitude and all that. _But not today._ Not after a Grimm attack."

"Understandable," Qrow nodded. "Let him rest for a bit."

"That's what I intend to do." Taiyang mumbled.

The kid.. well, if he was a prodigy, then the next few years would be very interesting indeed.

* * *

 _ **A/N**_

 _ **Thanks for reading the story.**_

 _ **Yes, I'm using the Fallout system, but please don't rely on it too much. I don't know much about Fallout and I'm mainly building on it as I go since I found the SPECIAL and Skill system fun to write about and work with. I should probably pirate—er, download the game to play it for myself.**_

 _ **Anyway, I got this idea from reading SHINOBI: THE RPG by Fulcon. Most of the leveling stuff here, Perk stuff and the like I got from his story. And Fallout, after I researched it a bit.**_

 _ **If anyone wants Crimson's stats I can post it at the end of the next chapter. Probably. Maybe. Don't trust me, I'm a lazy writer.**_

 _ **Story is semi-serious. Not as serious as it could be, but not as humorous as it also could be. I can't seem to choose between the two, so I chose the middle ground. Though I think the chapter is leaning towards serious at the moment.**_

 _ **Story should be taken with a grain of salt.**_

 _ **Thank you for taking your time to read the A/N.**_

 _ **Reviews are appreciated, but not needed.**_


	2. Chapter 2

_A/Ns at the bottom of the chapter._

* * *

 _I do not own RWBY, they belong to Rooster Teeth_

 _I only own my OCS_

 _The month after, 5 years old_

So I learned one new thing about my abilities.

While I _can_ use skill points to upgrade my abilities, I can also train or practice skills by continuously using them. The problem is, it's slow. There's an experience bar and everything, and I haven't filled anything at all, except for Unarmed, which is at 18/100 with 23%. Probably because of the Grimm attack.

It _does_ help to look natural in my abilities though. I would be pretty surprised if I didn't have this RPG ability and someone suddenly has a mastery over something. God.

Right now, I'm just checking over my stats. None of my other skills have gone up as of yet, but I've finally decided that I would be like Uncle Qrow and carry a thin single bladed sword. I _could_ use my points to put them all into Smith.. but I wanted to save my 10 points for Bladed Melee. I purse my lips. Be a better fighter, or a crafter?

The choices, they are painful.

For the past month, Dad hasn't left for a mission at all, so I couldn't see Qrow for his _awesome_ stuff. I asked him if he knew Qrow was.. well, who he is. An awesome bastard.

I _might_ be affected with the fact that I could have died, but it doesn't change the fact that the sword on his back looked epic.

The answer was apparently a solid _yes._ He called Qrow a Huntsman, though he looked at me uncertainly when he said his occupation. Apparently, He and Qrow were teammates at one point, along with Summer. They were pretty good too.

Makes me wonder just what Summer died to.

Whatever it was, it was probably something I have no hope of beating just yet. I plan to max out Bladed Melee and probably Small Guns just because I main Agility. Probably Sneak too. I'm going for a DPS/Assasin build, given my SPECIAL distribution.

I expressed my desire to be a huntsman to dad and he.. well, he had this _odd_ look on his face. Yang and Ruby, at one point, had come down and heard our conversation and also expressed their desire to be Huntsmen. Through the combined puppy eye perk of Ruby and Yang (a perk I lacked, though there was nothing lost there), his walls collapsed and he said he would give us a test to see what we wanted to be as Huntsman.

Yang fist pumped, Ruby had this star struck look on her face, and I was my usual bland self. Our family dynamic is special.

Another thing about my ability is that apparently, I can choose certain _traits_ every two levels. Right now, I chose something called **[Blade Master]** , which apparently gave me 30% more attack speed and damage whenever I use a bladed weapon. _Any_ kind of bladed weapon.

It's kind of broken.

The other choices were **[Expert of the Spirit]** , **[Light Feet]** , and **[Silent Steps]**. I plan to get Silent Steps, since it muffled all my steps regardless of my footwear. After that, probably Light Feet, which will give me 20% more speed, then Expert of the Spirit, which will give me a 10% boost on anything Aura related.

There will probably be more traits after, but I need to be smart about my choices since I'm pretty sure Traits are also unchangeable.

Regardless, I'm still stuck on level 2 right now and my exp. bar hasn't budged since last month. I've been trying everything, from going outside without dad's or my sisters' knowledge to try to trigger a quest, but nothing's been happening..

Wait.

Didn't I get experience for doing something with Aura? For using my semblance?

Hm..

I learned a few things about Aura from my dad after I unlocked it. It was used to protect the person from harm like a force field and can reasonably heal wounds, which confused my dad _greatly_ because I healed my own large wounds without prior practice. Aura was also used as fuel for our semblance, when I showed him my control over Aerokinesis.

Now..

Let's see.

I concentrate my vision on my left arm and gather Aura around it. The same warm feeling from before coursed through my chest then into my left arm. It pooled around and gathered, filling my arm then to my hands before I stopped it.

 **Aura Manipulation Check Success: 25/20**

 **Perk earned: Reinforcement**

 **A pre battle school skill. Reinforces a certain part of the body. Can be upgraded to Reinforcement II.**

2850 EXP left. Nice.

Well this is the first time I heard of upgrading skills. There's no prompt when I asked myself what Reinforcement II was, so it's probably just something that lets me Reinforce my whole body. Wait, let me just do exactly that—

 **Aura Manipulation Check Failure: 25/40**

Aw.

Well, let me see.. what else can I do?

I use my semblance to do a reasonably strong gust outside our house, which makes the trees bend slightly and the leaves rustle uncontrollably.

 **Perk earned: Gust**

 **Unique Perk! Makes a strong gust of wind.**

2700 EXP left.

 **Perk earned: Hurricane**

 **Perk earned: Air Slice**

 **Perk earned: Air Blast**

2250 EXP left.

Well, it's not slow, but I'm running out of ideas on what to do with Aerokinesis. Maybe I can try using solid aura to use as projectiles? Uh..

Just when I was about to do exactly that, my door opened and behind it was my dad with my sisters.

I waved. "Hello, family."

I probably looked weird, my window open and me staring out of it with a _lost_ look on my face (I finally figured out why they look at me weird when I dive into thought). I would probably find myself weird too.

Wait, why am I even denying it? I was weird on my previous life and I'm weird here now. It's part of my charm.

My non existent charm..

Damn you, 2 Charisma.

"Crimson, were you using your semblance again?" Dad had this concerned but proud look on his face. I felt my chest warm. Damn, getting someone proud for you felt _good._

"Yes." I answer honestly. No reason to lie.

"Crimson," he started sternly. _Oh no._ "You can't just use your semblance whenever you want. Your Aura might run out and it might do some serious damage to you," his hard gaze softened, making me relax a bit. "But.. it doesn't look like you got too tired," Damn right. I take a look at my Aura Meter. 49/130. Nevermind, I'm feeling the fatigue, though small. "So what did you get done?"

I shrugged and showed them a tiny version of the **Hurricane** , which floated around my room messing with the papers. My clothes rustled and the blankets were inflating for some reason. Yang and Ruby stared at it with wide eyes, before Ruby dropped a cookie crumb inside the eye, making it so that the crumb was spinning inside the tornado before it got thrown to the sides. Ruby giggled.

Dad's expression cycled through a few. First, he was surprised, then scared, of what, I don't know, then proud. Proud of _me._

He was proud of me.

It makes me feel.. lighter. Happy.

Like a weight lifts itself off my shoulder.

I don't know.

"Wow.." Yang says quietly. "That looks so cool," she says. _Is that envy?_ "I wish I could do that."

Taiyang just chuckles and ruffles her hair, successfully getting an indignant ' _Hey!'_ from her. She pouts at him and he just chuckles more. "Sweetheart, a semblance is an expression of the soul. It's a special thing for everybody. Yours could be similar to Crimson because you're twins, but it could be also something entirely different. Who knows, maybe yours could even be better than an Elemental Semblance!" He tickles her at that, getting her to laugh.

I stop the miniature hurricane from spinning around my room to avoid any more messy outcomes. It dies down, making Ruby pout as she was trying to drop cookie crumbs inside the hurricane.

Now I have to clean that up.

As soon as I stopped powering the mini hurricane, Dad clapped his hands.

"Alright, I came here to tell you to go downstairs to the Living Room but seeing as we're already all here, I can just start over here. Hold on a bit, kids. I'll be right back," and with that, he left me alone with my sisters.

"Can you do the hurricane again, Crimson?" Ruby asked innocently, her silver eyes looking at me pleadingly.

Unfortunately for her, I can resist.

"Sure." I obliged her anyway. I did say I _could_ resist but the power behind her cuteness went way over my moe resistance.

I spun my pointer finger in a circle a few times, a few gusts of wind gathering in the middle of my room and forming another miniature hurricane. Ruby giddily tries to touch the hurricane, resulting in her hand being forcefully blown back. It doesn't seem to bother her though, so I don't stop it as long as she doesn't dump a bunch of crumbs.

Yang stares at it and glares. Her fists clenched and her face is set at a scowl.

I could feel waves of anger coming from her. I doubt that I wouldn't notice it even if I wasn't her twin. It was just that obvious. Then again, Yang was never really good at hiding her emotions. She always had her heart on her sleeve, and it made her.. well, _lovable_?

I don't know how to describe it. Familiar?

Nevertheless, she was clenching her fists and along with her anger, I could feel something else.

Regret.

Why was she feeling regret? I don't get it. I would understand her feeling angry, or maybe even envious. But why would she feel regretful? Is it something that I did, or something that she never got to do?

"Yang?" I ask cautiously. "Are you.. okay?"

She forces a smile. _Lie._ "I'm fine."

"You're not." I state resolutely.

Her smile looks strained. "I'm _fine._ "

"No, you're not," I stubbornly refuse her way of brushing me off. "Something's bothering you, I can feel it. As your twin, I have the right to know if I need to bop someone or something in the head to stop it from bothering you."

She was silent. Ruby kept on trying to touch the hurricane without getting blown off without much success. The noise of the hurricane thankfully masked our conversation.

Suddenly, Yang had tears in her eyes.

"I.. I'm sorry," Her voice cracked. She put up a hand to wipe her tears away. Regret and sadness came off her in _waves_ , and I had to remind myself that it's not mine to not be affected. I could _feel_ her regret… There was.. so much.

"W-what are you sorry for?" I asked in confusion, trying to shake off the initial shock of the wave of emotion. It worked, kind of. "You shouldn't be sorry for anything."

"I'm sorry for dragging you both with me to the.. building." She said it loud enough for both of us to hear.

Ah.

That incident.

"I'm sorry for getting us nearly killed. Ruby, I'm so sorry you had to suffer with us and Crimson, I'm sorry you had to get slashed at by the.. by the Beowolf! I promise, I won't let it happen again, it won't happen again!" She blubbered at us both, tears coming down continuously from her eyes. "I.. I—"

"I don't blame you. I never did," I stopped her. She stopped trying to apologize. "I can't ever blame you, Yang. I know you miss mom," my voice almost cracked there. "I miss her too. I know we have another mom and I get why you want to see her… But I can't blame you. I want to see her, our other mom, too."

Her eyes widened. "But.. But I thought that you didn't want to see her!"

"I never said that," I denied. "I just said that she would have left us for a reason."

Yang looked down and started to sob again. "B-but, I got you both in danger… Crim, I got you _hurt_. You had those.. those big slashes on your chest. You're not even alright yet."

"I _am_ alright, and no one got really hurt," It was true. My wounds have healed, but now I have a permanent three slash scar all the way from my right shoulder to left hip. Honestly, it looks epic, if not for the fact I got it from being attacked by an oversized wolf. "And I still don't blame you. I don't think Ruby does, either."

Ruby, who's been listening in our conversation, began to nod rapidly. "Y-yeah! Those wolves were really scary, but Crim just went.." She did karate noises and weird motions with her hands. I snickered, and Yang couldn't help but crack a smile.

"Yang, I know I'm not the best person at.. talking," I say awkwardly. "But we're family. I can't ever leave you behind. I'll protect you guys again even if it meant me dying." I wouldn't accept dying anyway. I would train like hell so I could protect them and still live, hopefully, protect them and annihilate the enemy.

"But.. why don't you blame me? Ruby, Crimson?"

I get it. She wanted to be blamed because she still blamed herself.

"Yang.." I hug her. Ruby joins in the hug to make her feel better. "We don't blame you, so don't blame yourself."

"I don't blame you because we're family."

 **Perk earned: Familial Love**

 **Low charisma doesn't matter to family and friends anymore!**

Finally, Dad arrived with some papers. He glanced up from the papers, seeing us all hugging it out and comforting a crying Yang, making him smile softly.

"I'll come by later."

* * *

 _The next day_

* * *

Ruby, Yang and I were in the living room with dad. He distributed the papers to us then gave us each a pencil.

After he did that, he sat down in front of us and adopted a stern expression on his face, which looked odd considering that his normal goofball expression was… well, the norm.

"Alright, this is something called an Aptitude Test. It's really short, don't worry. I just need you to answer honestly," He explained. "You can only choose 3 choices and it'll at least narrow down your interests when you finally go to Signal, _or train early._ " He mumbled the last part to himself, but I managed to overhear it. "You can answer now, by the way."

Ruby had this critical thinking look on her face, and Yang had a little thoughtful expression before she grinned and darkened her choices.

I looked down at mine and almost choked. _It was my Skills_.

No, seriously. I see Bladed Melee over here, Sneak, the rest.I'm almost convinced dad knows of my extra power, but taking a peek at my twin's paper shows that she has the same choices.

What an odd coincidence.

 _So of course.. I have to have Sneak. I want to be a god damned assassin if I can… Aura manipulation for sure, I want to be better at using my Aura…_

The last combat oriented one.

I could go for small guns, or pistols and SMGs probably. Or I could go for the Bladed Melee for swords and others..

I flashed back to Qrow's epic sword.

 _Oh I know my choice._

I darkened the Bladed Melee option.

I passed the test, well, survey more like it, to dad and he looked over to me as if surprised.

"I thought you would have been more interested in Unarmed." I guess Qrow told him what I did.

I simply shrugged in response. "I liked Uncle's sword."

Taiyang snorted, "It's a very big sword, yes." He seems to be internally reprimanding himself for that comment.

My mind went blank after he said that, trying to process it. When I finally did, I had to fight the urge to giggle like a perverted moron. Thankfully, I won, and my twin simply stared at Dad, confused.

"What do you mean by that, Dad?"

"You'll know when you're older." Dad pat her on the head and accepted Ruby's test and put it in front.

"Alright, well, I got you guys' interests. Well Yang, since you chose Unarmed," _Wow, she's braver than I am._ "You have to train on your strength, so I'll probably give you an exercise routine to follow." Yang nodded in acceptance.

"Crimson, you chose Bladed Melee, so I say practice your speed and agility, I think. And, Ruby…" He dryly looked at her. "I'll tell you when you're older," making her go ' _Aww!'_ in disappointment.

A prompt appeared in front of me.

 **+15 Sneak**

 **+15 Aura Manipulation**

 **+15 Bladed Melee**

Woah… So I just got 15 added to the stuff I chose on the specialties test. Neat. Now those 3 are on straight 40s and I still have 10 extra points. Considering that I have **Blade Master** as a Trait, I might as well put all my remaining points onto Bladed Melee.

There we go.

 **Bladed Melee (Agility): 50**

Very nice. I'm halfway done with maxing it out. It needs to be my first most priority, second being Aura and third being Sneak..

Actually, I need to put points in Speech and Barter so I can actually talk to someone without fumbling over words. Thankfully, Speech has leveled up to 15 from the accumulated experience I got from talking in the past month. I need to use points in both so I can get discounts and talk to someone properly.

Anyway, Dad finished up his talking, patted us all in the head and told us we can play in the Living Room for awhile while he goes and talk to some people. Ruby and Yang cheers and looks at me, as if expecting me to do something.

"Use your semblance." Yang urged, a grin on her face.

Well.

I can't exactly deny my twin now, can I?

With an amused look on my face, I send gusts of wind around the house.

* * *

 _7 years later, 12 years old_

* * *

"Yah!" Yang _punched_ the place I was just in a while ago and a _fucking crater_ formed. Jesus fuck I could have died.. well, probably not, but still. That shot was _dangerous._

I slash diagonally at her with my one sided steel sword making her hiss as she barely dodged it. I quickly followed up with horizontal slash from the left. She jumps back and quickly pushes forward with a _packed_ punch.

I duck underneath the blow and strike her at the stomach with the sheath of my sword, making her go _'Oof'_ and, probably, fuelling her semblance.

She lands a few feet behind me as her hair lights up. Yeah, her semblance is working fine.

I step back and point my sword above her, before slashing down to _materialize air blades._

I know, awesome right?

She runs to the left as the wind blades leave deep cuts in the places where she was awhile ago, then when she realized I stopped, went in for the opportunity of a hit.

I went in first.

With my greater… way greater speed, I met her before she even raised her fist, already my sword raised above her. I hit her on the head with the pommel on my sword, sending her crashing down on the round, and making dad declare me the winner.

"Crimson wins!" He announces, smiling at us both. "Wow; you've both improved so much since we started years ago. I can remember when my little girl couldn't throw a punch, and when my little man couldn't use his speed to his advantage." Yeah, that was embarrassing for me. I was way too fast and at one point, I had buried myself at a wall.

Yeah, that was.. an interesting day.

"Good fight." I say to her, smiling. Ruby was clapping enthusiastically. She took my hand and grasped it tightly, then grinning like a loony, before she grabbed me to the floor with her, making me go _'Ah!'_ when I fell on my face. Ruby outright laughed, and I could imagine Dad having a smile on his face, shaking his head. Yang simply laughed with Ruby as she gave me a punch on the shoulder before standing up and joining dad to chat on how to get better.

Meanwhile, I only need to look at my stats.

On the 7 years since that fateful day, I've only leveled up 5 times.

That's right, 5.

The lack of quests was so infuriating. I couldn't get any high yield quests. My highest yield quest, which gave me +1200 EXP was a quest that was a glorified "Beat up the grunts" with a side of being anonymous and leaving a note behind for the cops to follow.

That was the White Fang presence on Patch, but that was a few months ago and nothing, before or after, had ever come close to even nearing it.

My EXP right now is 3450.

Out of a whopping 10000.

Groan.

Well the good news was, I had maxed out my Bladed Melee skill at 100. I raised my Aura Manipulation to 50 plus some extra 14 points with training. Sneak got up to 51 through constant use to… well, sneak out the house to murder Grimm. I added 6 points to Barter, raising it to 15 (I still haven't gotten any experience with is so it hasn't been going up naturally) and the rest of the 19 points to Blunt Melee since I need it to be able to work effectively on dual wielding my sheath and sword, and an added 10 more points because of experience. I also got Speech up to 32 due to constant use. I suppose Speech would be maxed eventually since I keep on using it.

Since I got 5 levels, I got 2 more traits. I obviously got **Silent Step** and it works _perfectly_ as long as I was sneaking below or at my Sneak level. My sneak may not be my highest but I still had silent footsteps and it was a great help. The other one was **Dual Wielding** , which gave me _more_ damage as long as I wielded two weapons.

Thus the sheath bat. It works wonders.

There were other traits now available too. I had set my eyes on **Stone Wall** because avoiding Knockback is amazing.. and another one, **Almost Perfect** had a level requirement of 30 but raised all SPECIALs below 9 to 9.

That would be amazing.

Other than that, there was really nothing else to add to my stats. It was, okay, I guess. This spar with Yang was an evaluation of our skills and according to our Dad, we were great. We were apparently more than ready for Signal, and he was going to enroll us after our birthday, which is pretty soon.

"Well, kid, if I had a doubt about your skills, consider them gone." It was…

"Uncle Qrow," I acknowledged my drunk uncle with a tip of my head to his direction. He stood up from his seat and ruffled mine and Yang's hair.

"Hey!" Yang tried to sock our uncle, but missed as he sidestepped her while smirking. "

"Too slow, Yang." He laughed as she pouted up at him, making him ruffle her hair again.

He glanced over to me. "Well, kiddo, have you thought of my proposition yet?"

His proposition—

Oh, right.

It was around a year ago when he gave me an offer. It was to shadow him as a Huntsman's apprentice. Essentially, I would be enrolled in Signal but I would be "privately tutored" by Qrow. It's essentially an apprenticeship while Qrow would evaluate me himself when we go on missions. It would be a _great_ way of leveling up, but I didn't want to leave my family alone because…

Well, overprotective me. I never thought I would be over protective over something. It's an odd thing.

"Yeah, I've thought of it," I confess. "How long do I have until I decide?"

"Until Signal starts up," Qrow puts a hand on my shoulder. "That's in three months. Don't feel pressured though, even if you don't accept my offer, I'll probably be drafted to train you brats."

I snorted. Dad would probably do that just to make us better. But having 100 on Bladed Melee means that I'm way above Master Level at anything with a blade, so I doubt I could improve anymore on that point.

Well, someone older _could_ overpower me. My skill _is_ good but my SPECIALs, while they gave me an above average strength and made me _really_ fast, scales with my age. So being above average at 12 will still get me overpowered by someone a few years my senior.

"If I choose to accept it, when will I leave?" I asked tentatively. I _didn't_ want to go to a school for huntsman. While Yang and Ruby does need it, I'm pretty sure I don't. Probably.

Qrow shrugged. "If you accept now, we could leave in an hour or less. I have a mission to attend to today, and this could be my last offer before I leave for another few weeks."

I pondered on the offer. While the spars with Yang _were_ good, I was still holding back. A lot. My Bladed Melee skill of 100 is kind of _terrifying_ to be honest. Yang's moves were terribly slow for me, and I could predict where she was gonna punch.

Ever since I got my Bladed Melee to 100, I wasn't hit once. It made me feel, well… overpowered. Bored. There was no more fight in Patch. I doubt the exp gain in the island would be enough to get me to the high levels that I want.

 _Wonder if this was what Saitama felt with his single punches_. I idly thought.

So if I accept now, we can have a high level mission right off the bat…

"That look on your face," Qrow smirked. "I guess you don't want the missions after all."

I scoffed. "I want them. I accept your offer."

Qrow's smirk widened.

"Pack your bags, kid. I'll talk to your dad and after that, we're going hunting."

* * *

" _Qrow, what the hell?_ " Taiyang hissed at Qrow. "Why is _my son_ packing his bags upstairs with necessities. What did you say to him?"

Qrow shrugged. "Hey, he accepted my offer. I told him we could leave in an hour."

Taiyang grabbed Qrow by the shoulders and shook him back and forth.

"Woah!"

" _You're taking him on missions?!"_ Tai was livid, though his voice was quiet. "Don't you know how _dangerous_ it is? What if he gets wounded in a mission, what if he—"

"Tai!" Qrow's voice was hard. "Relax. Your son already has the mindset of a _huntsman_. You can't keep him chained down forever. You can _see_ how bored he was when he fought Yang. _He was holding back_. This apprenticeship is a big chance for him to exercise his skills and to train him even more. He won't die, not when his teacher is _me._ "

Yang and Ruby were peeking over the corner to eavesdrop on the two adults. They were silent as they comprehended the fact that… well, their brother is leaving.

"What?!" Yang's eyes turned red, her hair catching fire for a few moments, making Ruby speed over to the adults before she went feral. "He's… He's leaving?!"

Taiyang looked at them in surprise. "Kids?"

Qrow answered her. "Yeah. We're going to go on missions, kiddo."

Yang's eyes widened and she growled. "You're not taking him away!"

"Yeah!" Ruby nodded rapidly. "He's _our_ brother!" She pouted up at him.

Qrow was confused for a second before he snickered. "No, it's not a permanent apprenticeship. It'll last four years, about the time you stay on Signal, Yang. If you choose to go to Beacon, you'll probably meet him 'cause that's where I'll be enrolling your prodigy of a brother when I'm done training him."

 _Beacon…_ Yang's thoughts went wild. "Beacon?"

"Yeah, a training academy, essentially. That's where your dad and I went to train to be Huntsmen," Qrow scratched his stubble. "At the rate you're going, you could get recommended to Beacon when you graduate, and I bet you'll get accepted."

"Really?" A fire burned in Yang's eyes as she heard his statement, a fire of passion and eagerness.

Qrow and Taiyang noticed this too, Qrow taking advantage of the fire while Taiyang just groaned quietly.

"I bet you'll get a rematch when you both get on Beacon."

The fire _burned_.

"Yeah, and I'll beat him to a pulp for accepting your.. your _thing_!" Yang did a fist pump.

"Alright, I'm going to train real hard!"

"Yeah!" Ruby joined in.

Taiyang shook his head while he chuckled. "Now look at what you've done, Qrow. You've made my whole family want to be Huntsman."

"That's not necessarily a bad thing, isn't it?" Qrow replied. "It just means they can protect themselves better."

"Well yeah… but I wanted them to be safe so only _I_ can protect them." Taiyang sighed. "Look, just promise me this one thing, okay?"

Taiyang grabbed Qrow's shoulders again, making the second man look at his friend in confusion.

" _Make him better at talking to people._ "

Qrow laughed.

Taiyang was known to be a goofball, Yang was known to be ragey, and Ruby was known to be a speedster.

Meanwhile, Crimson was known to be socially inept.

This family really is a great thing.

* * *

"Do you have everything?" Taiyang asked me for the _third time_.

"Yes, I have everything, Dad." I answer, exasperated. "I have the sword, and clothes, and some other stuff. Yeah."

Taiyang wiped a tear from his eye. "They grow up so fast..!"

Ah, never change, dad.

I turned around, and there was Yang and Ruby, both looking at me with less than pleasant expressions. Ruby was pouting up at me and Yang was… mad.

Welp.

"You better come back!" Yang put a finger to my chest. "I still want to fight you fair and square, Crim."

I rolled my eyes. "Yeah, whatever." I gently pushed her away, but Ruby blocked my way too.

"Can you give me cookies when you're done in your adventure?" Her expression did a complete 180 from sad pout to excited smile.

Ruby really is a weird kid.

I snorted as I pat her on the head. Being a bit taller than Yang and at least a head taller than Ruby gave me the right to do that.

"Never change, Ruby."

"Does that mean you're giving me cookies?"

"No promises."

As I walked out of the house (ignoring Ruby's cry of ' _Nooooo!_ '), I saw Qrow standing there, his weapon already on his shoulder. I could hear the revs of a bullhead somewhere, masking the ambient noise of the woods.

"Ready, kiddo?"

I took one last look at my house.

My family was standing outside. Yang had her arms crossed and was trying not to look at me. Ruby waved goodbye to me excitedly, and Taiyang had this look of acceptance in his face, a soft smile gracing his features as he nodded at me.

"Go on!" Dad raised his voice so I could hear it. "I trust you to make it back to us, Crim!"

I smirk.

"I will."

And I dashed along with Qrow.

* * *

As we sat down on the Bullhead, I idly play around with my Semblance, causing small gusts of wind to flow around and creating a miniature ball of wind. It was sort of relaxing to use it, and the aura that it uses is minimal. Qrow watches me as I do random stuff with my Semblance before commenting on it.

"You know, not a lot of people can use their Semblance like you can."

I was confused. "What do you mean by that?" I'm pretty sure that with the minimal amount of aura used, a lot of people can do it.

He scratched the back of his head. "Well, for starters, Aura would be constantly used so you'd be drained if you kept playing with it, but yours doesn't seem to dip that much so I haven't stopped you. Second, not a lot of people have that much control over Aura to… well, use it to that effectiveness."

Oh.

Wow.

"What?"

He nods. "Yeah, I know another guy with an elemental semblance like you. His was Earth, and last I remember he could only throw large chunks of rocks everywhere. Here, I see you doing spheres and stuff," he shrugs. "What are the odds of you being a prodigy born with a large aura?"

I shrugged in return.

We were silent for a few more minutes.

Qrow cleared his throat. "So… originally, I was gonna give you a gift your mom was supposed to give you."

I whipped my head towards him. "You knew _mom?_ " I whispered.

Well, what do you know. Yang's looking for our mom and we had our informant right here. How unfortunate.

"'Course I did, she's my twin sister." He off handedly replied.

Twin sister.

Squinting at him, I guess I could make out the resemblance. Both had black hair and..

Red eyes.

Wonder how I didn't notice that in the past _twelve years._

"Oh…" I muttered, before I brought up the other thing he mentioned. "Wait, she gave me a gift through you?"

"Yeah," Qrow brought out a black case, at least 3 feet and then several inches closing in to 4 feet. "It's a one sided sword. One handed, no sheath. If you channel Aura into it, the internal green dust will give your sword acidic properties," He glanced at me. "Could probably give your winds acid too. You want?"

A sword like that? No one can pass that up. "Of course."

He passed me the case. I gingerly set it on my lap and undo the clasp closing the case. It was…

A good sword. No, good doesn't begin to describe it. When I laid my eyes on it, I knew.

It's mine.

It was a black sword with a green edge. There was a compartment at the grip of the sword, barely noticeable due to the equally black grip. I opened it and there it was, some green dust. I close it again and bring out the sword, bringing it to the light.

It was a straight sword. I tested my grip on it by seeing if I can flip it to change directions. I did it, and it fit like a glove. I didn't even drop it.

Maybe it's my 100 points on Bladed Melee, but I _felt_ it. The sword, it's mine.

"Like it?" Qrow observed me test the sword. "I can keep it if you don't want it."

"I love it," I say wholeheartedly. I glance at him. "She spent money on me? I thought she left us. Actually, did she give anything to Yang?"

"No," Qrow replied honestly. "Look, your mom is… a difficult woman. She respects strength and skill, but she's essentially a loner. I haven't seen her since she gave me your custom sword."

"I see," I answer, a bit glum. So I only got her attention because I was good? I don't know if I should be happy or not.

We were silent again, this time spanning several minutes.

 _Should I tell him?_

 _I need to tell someone._

 _I need to get it off my chest._

"Qrow… I have something to tell you."

"Spill." He wasted no time uttering that single word, now looking at me with rapt attention.

"I have… this ability," I do a gesture with my hands that emulated a square. "Makes me play life like a game, I guess. I've had it as long as I remember and the only reason I accepted was to get stronger."

Qrow was silent, drinking in the information.

"Play life like a game," He echoed. "Like what exactly?"

"Well, I can't edit my base stats, like Strength and stuff," I revealed. "I get 17 points to use on my skills though."

"Skills?" He looked at me. I can't read his expression.

"Yeah," I was a bit nervous now.

 _Would he leave me?_

 _Call me a cheater?_

 _Would he leave me?_

I can't think of any scenario of me being 'not broken' if anyone on my new family leaves me. Qrow was that one Uncle who also doubles as your best friend, Dad was my dad, Ruby was the energetic little sister and Yang the competitive twin.

I can't think of myself without any of them.

He was silent.

"Skills like, with blades, blunt weapons, stuff…" I added as an afterthought. "I maxed out blades because I've always wanted to use a sword."

"Huh, so that's why you're so good with the sword." Suddenly, Qrow had a relaxed look on his face and was nodding. "What level are you at, kiddo?"

 _What._ "Uh, 7. B-but wait, aren't you mad that I basically _cheated_ my skills?" I panicked a bit, thoughts running on my mind about how he was just making me feel better.

Qrow simply shrugged. _Shrugged._ "Hey, not my business on how you got your skills." His gaze softens.

"In our world, it doesn't matter on how you got your skills. I don't care about how you got it, cheating it or not. You're my nephew who looks awfully similar to my own sister, and you got a broken ability. I don't care."

"You don't… care?" I echo.

He just nods. "Yeah," he opened an eye and grins at me. "As long as you have it, I don't care. Makes my job of training you way easier. Who knows, maybe you'll get into Beacon without a sweat," he smirks.

I sighed. "You know, I expected more anger and betrayal from this reveal."

"Hey, it gets you better at everything, right?" He shrugged.

I shake my head. "No. Most things only serve combat purposes. There _is_ speech and barter, but those two aren't really a priority yet."

He slowly nods. "Is that why you can't talk to other people?"

"No, it's because of my low charisma," I grumble. "I've had it since I was a kid. 2 out of 10 makes me way below average. I'm socially inept."

"You're aware but never tried to change it?" Qrow seems surprised.

"I _can't_ change it. Plus, I never realized how much of an effect Charisma had on my social skills until Dad took me to the park when I was 7. That was a nightmare."

It was.

The children on there avoided me like a plague and steered away from me. Yang and Ruby were the only ones playing with me, and whenever some kid got near to us, they would always look at me nervously.

Qrow snorted. "Yeah kiddo, you look like a robot. No emotions, and you don't know how to talk to people."

I sighed. "I know, it just doesn't come out the same way I want to say it like. It's annoying sometimes, results in hurt feelings often."

My uncle snickered. "I bet."

We went quiet again.

"You should probably change into your combat outfit," Qrow suggested. "We're getting close to our mission."

"My… combat outfit?" I was confused.

I had no combat outfit.

"You don't have combat clothes." He stated flatly. He looked over my clothes, a simple white shirt and jeans with rubber shoes. He pinches the bridge of his nose. "Well this is going to be a bit more complicated."

"Why?"

"Why?" Qrow looked at me and smirked evilly. _Oh crap._ "We're not going on any simple mission, kiddo."

A mission prompt appeared.

 **Quest Added: Grim Outcome**

 **Destroy the Grimm's Nest**

I paled.

"We're going to destroy a nest."

* * *

 _ **A/N**_

 _ **Hello.**_

 _ **I went through my Managing Stories bar and found my story with 3 reviews and 200+ views, several followers and a bunch of favorites. Thank you for the warm reception!**_

 _ **Next chapter should be a bunch of experiences in the four years he'll be shadowing Qrow.**_

 _ **The mission in this chapter?**_

 _ **Of course.**_

 _ **Anyway, I need to shed some light on the Gamer Ability here to clear out some confusion probably in your head.**_

 _ **He can level up to get skill point, but he can also train them to advance more naturally, some a bit faster because of the associated skill (Small Guns would progress faster than Speech). That's why some skills are higher than before despite being ignored, like Sneak.**_

 _ **Unarmed has some extra points because of the way he keeps using it.**_

 _ **By the way, this is Crimson's stat sheet after the 7 years. Yes, he only went up 5 levels because of the lack of hard quests.**_

 _ **Crimson Branwen (LV. 7)**_

 _ **Health: 255**_

 _ **Aura: 190**_

 _ **Semblance: Aerokinesis**_

 _ **Experience: 3450 / 10000**_

 _ **S – 8**_

 _ **P – 3**_

 _ **E – 5**_

 _ **C – 2**_

 _ **I – 7**_

 _ **A – 10**_

 _ **L – 5**_

 _ **Skills:**_

 _ **Speech (Charisma): 32**_

 _ **Barter (Charisma): 15**_

 _ **Bladed Melee (Agility): 100**_

 _ **Blunt Melee (Strength): 49**_

 _ **Unarmed (Endurance): 18**_

 _ **Small Guns (Agility): 25**_

 _ **Big Guns (Strength): 20**_

 _ **Lockpick (Perception): 10**_

 _ **Repair (Intelligence): 18**_

 _ **Smith (Intelligence): 18**_

 _ **Computers (Intelligence): 18**_

 _ **Sneak (Agility): 51**_

 _ **Medicine (Intelligence): 18**_

 _ **Aura Manipulation (Intelligence): 64**_

 _ **Available Points: 0**_

 _ **Traits:**_

 _ **Blade Master: Gives a 30% boost to attack speed and damage whenever player uses a bladed weapon. (Requires 8 Agility)**_

 _ **Silent Step: Makes all steps silent regardless of footwear. (Requires 40 Sneak)**_

 _ **Dual Wielding: Gives extra damage as long as the player is wielding two weapons**_

 _ **I think that covers it, and as always;**_

 _ **Take this story with a grain of salt.**_

 _ **Semi Serious story so don't take it too seriously.**_

 _ **Reviews are appreciated, but not needed.**_


	3. Chapter 3

_A/Ns at the bottom of the chapter_

* * *

 _I don't own RWBY or any of its characters_

 _I only own my OCs…_

 _Maybe._

* * *

"A _nest?_ " I asked, as calmly as I could.

There was not a lot of calm and my words expressed themselves more as a squeak.

"Yeah, pretty simple, right?" Qrow kept smirking _like the bastard_ he was.

"When you said dangerous, I thought you were kidding." I mumbled.

"Now, why would I do that?" He was mocking me. I _know_ that he's mocking me. "Besides, the nest is new. It shouldn't be any more simple than to kill a few Grimm then murder the big bad boss."

"Qrow, I got a named quest for this mission," I warned him. "Named quests usually become bad over time. Me ignoring the quest also means tempting Murphy's Law to come kick me in the ass."

"How bad do they usually get?" He asked curiously.

"It got bad. I remember a bit when I was 10, I think. I was just doing my usual rounds of hunting beowolves when I landed right into their den. Let's just say that Dad chewed me out and there were no more beowolves. _Though the exp gain wasn't anything to desire._ " I muttered the last part to myself.

There were at least 30 wolves in the area. If I combined the exp I got from it, I got 2200, 1500 from killing the wolves and 700 from the quest itself.

It was on quests like those that reminded me why my power was broken yet cheap at the same time.

It _also_ doesn't help that all my quests did not give me the amount of EXP I would receive upon completion. Usually, the amount of EXP and rewards you gain after the quest gives you another gauge to measure the difficulty of a mission, but without it… well, essentially, you're going into the quest blind.

I did not like going into a quest blind.

I nervously fingered with my newfound sword. _I should probably name it to make it easier for me._ "Can you at least tell me the mission details?" I begged him. I need at least _some_ semblance of information.

My uncle just snorted. "Sure. We're going into the Grimm's nest to shut it down. It's supposedly new and a few miles away from Vale's border. Reports show that the Grimm coming around the area were young ones, only a few having a powerful enough exoskeleton." Well, at least he doesn't keep information hidden. That's one thing I could appreciate from my uncle.

"Should is the keyword," I supplied. "Everything that can go wrong, will go wrong, Uncle. You should know that best."

He grunted in reply. "Believe me, kiddo. I know that all too well."

I was confused for awhile, not knowing what to make of the sentence he just said. He glanced at me and probably noticed my strange expression and tried to dissuade my worries. "Don't worry about it."

So of course, as any logical human would react, I worried about it.

Or is it just me? God knows that I'm not exactly a logical person myself, my ability speaks for itself.

" _We're closing in on the LZ. Fifteen minutes, tops."_ The pilot spoke through the intercom. I worriedly glance at Qrow and he just gave me a shake of the head.

"He can't hear us unless we shout. I know you want to keep your secondary ability secret, so I'll just trust you for now. As long as it doesn't interfere with the mission."

"It shouldn't." I assured him. My grip on the sword tightens. "So what do we do when we get to the nest?"

Qrow looked at me. "We bust in, crack some heads, kill the big bad, get out. As it is, the big bad shouldn't even be big at all."

"Shouldn't," I reminded him again. "Shouldn't is a keyword."

"Yeah, it is." He nodded. I paled.

"You're not even denying it? Not even to make me feel better?"

"Hey, I shouldn't try to sugarcoat it. You should have known what you were walking into when you accepted my apprenticeship."

"I was expecting to help some villages guard against some stray Grimm." I informed him. "I did not expect a class A extermination."

"Actually, when I got the mission it was just supposed to be a Class B," He so _cheerfully_ told me. "Though if your worries are right and I felt it right, it could be elevated to Class A."

I groan and bang my head on the walls of the Bullhead. "Ow."

"Yeah, that happens when you inflict self pain." Qrow nodded sagely, like he's done it before several times.

"Shut up, smartass uncle." I grumble as I try to use my old sheath to fit my new sword. "Damn, doesn't fit."

"We'll get one for you after the mission," Qrow waved off my concerns. "We'll also get you a combat outfit. That's pretty much a required set for any Huntsman, really."

I dryly glanced at him. "I bet it's also required that new hunters be fully adjusted before going into a _class A extermination mission._ "

"Hey, if anything, you're bound to get lots of experience for this." At this, Qrow smirked at me. "That should be fun and good for you."

"Those _would_ be some very sexy numbers," I mumbled. "The numbers don't make up for the danger though. Usually. Unless my ability decides to stop being a cheapskate and give me the proper EXP that actually scales with difficulty then I'm not going to hope for the best."

He snorted at me. "Please, you've maxed out your Bladed… thing, right?"

"Bladed Melee, and yes, I did." I supplied and answered, waiting to see where he was going with this.

"What does that exactly mean?" He asked curiously.

"100% mastery to any Bladed Weapon. Knives, Swords, Katanas, Spears…" I glance at him to see him, for once, shocked. "You know, the like."

"A hundred percent?" He murmured. "That's.. that's… wow. I didn't really understand it when you said you lived life like a game but… your ability is bullshit, has anyone told you that?"

"I tell myself that everyday, yes." I nodded sagely. "I stopped trying to understand it and just lived with the regret that I'm essentially cheating and accepted that I'm getting stronger."

"A regret that's hopefully fading away?" He asked regarding my 'regret'.

"I'm regretting it not as much if it helps," I told him, ignoring his eye roll and scoff. ' _Children.'_

It feels good to make him scoff for once.

Suddenly, the Bullhead started moving really fast. I held on the my armrests as the ship decided to take a twirl, leaving me a little sick to the stomach. Qrow looked better than me at this regard, but he had a look of annoyance on his face as he held on tight.

The intercom piped up. " _LZ is hot, I repeat, LZ is hot. Executing evasive maneuvers."_

"You could've told that to us _before_ you started doing them," I mumbled as I tried to control my stomach.

"Don't worry kid, you'll get used to it."

"Shut up."

The Bullhead banked again, and Qrow barked a few words that I never would have said myself.

"Open the door, pilot! We're dropping off!"

What.

 _What does he mean dropping off, and why are we dropping from several hundred feet up?_

I got my answer for the first one, and made me doubt his sanity on the second one.

The door on the side of the Bullhead opened up vertically. I could see a murder of Nevermores below and beside us, squawking in anger. A few Nevermores tried to shoot us down with a bunch of feathers, a few embedding themselves into the metal framework and the others out of my sight.

Qrow stood up and shakily strode to the edge of the exit. He peered down and squinted then looked back to me. "Well, kid, looks like this mission _did_ escalate."

I cursed. "What do we do?"

"First, we gotta kill these annoying birds," Qrow stated, as if it was any normal everyday thing. "Then, we gotta kill those annoying wolves, bears, snakes, and pretty much everything else down there."

I bang my head on the wall again.

"Hey, that hurt less this time."

Qrow snorted. He flicked something on his weapon and it _folded_ for the lack of a better term.

It folded forwards, making a few gears—' _I always wondered what those were for_. _'_ —rotate and click together, which signaled the completion of the transformation.

He saw me looking with an open mouth and smirked. "Mechashift weapons do tend to have that effect on people."

His _shifted_ weapon still bore similarities to the sword, except the point was something akin to a shotgun barrel and the grip tilted 90 degrees to be a handle for the weapon. It was a _shotgun_.

"Your sword is a gun?!" I shouted over the winds, which were starting to get louder as the Bullhead got _faster and faster_.

"It is a gun and much more," He nodded sagely, _not at all bothered by our increasing speed._

" _Get ready to drop. 30 seconds!"_

Qrow basically shoved me up to next to him. "Alright, kid. You got 30 seconds to think of a landing strategy. Think of it as practice for Beacon."

I grumbled in annoyance. "If I keep doing these kinds of missions with you, I doubt I would even need to go to Beacon."

He chuckled. "That would be a good thing, right?"

"It would be," I agreed. "If I actually lived through it."

" _15 seconds!"_

"Get ready," Qrow told me.

"He just literally told us the estimated time."

" _10!_ "

"So, did you name your new sword yet?"

" _9!"_

"No, not really."

" _8!"_

"Why not?"

" _7!"_

"Too lazy. Too hectic," " _6!" "_ I'll do it after this mission."

" _5!"_

"You better name it something good then."

" _4!"_

"Yeah, I wouldn't dare name it anything shitty."

" _3!"_

"Language."

" _2!"_

"Oh screw off, Uncle."

" _1!"_

"That's our cue." With that, Qrow jumped off.

I really doubt my uncle's sanity.

Regardless of my doubts on his sanity, I jumped off the Bullhead, flipping around to see it fly off, the murder of Nevermores training their attentions towards the two Aura filled targets quickly descending towards the ground at break neck speeds. Literally.

Qrow landed a bit before me, except he landed on a Nevermore that strayed off the murder. He looked at me for awhile but I quickly dropped past him, so I couldn't catch any words he might have said. Though, if I caught the gist of it, I believe it would be something like ' _Take care of the Grimm below._ '.

My theory gained evidence when he shot off the Nevermore's head, then immediately jumping off to a new one.

I set my sights on the closing ground. There were _a lot_ of Grimm, way more than the Beowolf den I found in Patch. I could count at least a hundred, and that's not counting the ones inside the cave. There weren't only Beowolves too. I see at least a few Ursa, a snake thing I'm not familiar about, and a few oversized scorpions.

 _This situation keeps getting better and better._

I was, however, knocked off my trajectory when a smaller Nevermore hit my sides.

It was at least a dozen times smaller than the ones above us. It probably thought it could get a free meal out of me.

Nope.

I gripped my sword tight and channel Aura into it. I bring it down on it's head, morbidly satisfied in the scream it emitted as it melted and dissolved into black material.

 _Woah._ It was a really good sword.

I got my landing strategy a second more after the oversized bird hit me. I used my Aerokinesis to push the winds against my fall.

 **Aura Check Success: 64/50**

Hey, I guess my Luck is better on these kinds of things than missions.

 **Perk earned: Vacuum**

 **Unique Perk! Can be used to pull things towards the player, or be unorthodoxly used as a slowing tactic.**

The game does love poking fun at me.

Despite the snide comment, it worked perfectly and I felt my descent flow. More than a few Grimm decided to take advantage of my slow descent and were running towards me. I noticed a few pig grimm—Boarbatusks, if I recall correctly. I hadn't seen them when I was falling because they were too small—advance faster than the rest. They had an exoskeleton.

Information seems to be wrong already, as if it wasn't already wrong when the giant Nevermores attacked.

I cut off my Semblance prematurely, causing me to fall faster. I raise my acid sword above my head, Aura already channeling into it.

At a height like this, the fall wouldn't matter much.

I charged my semblance at the blade of my sword, carefully mixing it and the effects of the acidic dust in the sword…

 **Aura Check Success: 64/60**

And I landed.

I slammed my sword down upon a Boarbatusk, making it squeal in pain as the blade effortlessly melted through its armor. A shockwave of wind formed from where it got hit, a green effect accompanying the normally uncolored winds.

It was a perk that I had already used before, but this time, it had an acidic effect with it. I frowned as I realized I didn't get EXP or a new perk. I guess even making the perk have a different element doesn't give me new EXP since it's still a variation.

The Grimm that would have converged upon my location were hit with the direct brunt of the shockwave. I idly note that some of their armor were melting and the lesser, weaker Grimm were howling in pain.

I took my opportunity.

 _Time to take my 100 points on Bladed Mastery to the test._

I ignore the Boarbatusk I just demolished and faced the horde in front of me. I ready my sword beside me, seeing it already charged green with Aura and _dashed_.

I slice off an arm with the sword, then a head with another. I flip over a writhing Ursa, bringing my sword in between its head mid flip and cutting its head in half. I crouch when I land and do a spin with my sword extended outwards, cutting the Beowolves around me in half. I narrowed my eyes and flip backwards as the snake Grimm revealed itself to me again.

It was fully black, just like any other Grimm, except where the others had an exoskeleton, this one had scales. It also had markings on the head, and its red eyes were similar to that of a bug. _Compounded._

I flip back as an Ursa took the chance I gave it with a roar, making it run towards me and slash. _Slow._ I dashed forwards and impale it straight through the chest, tearing out my sword and slicing off another Beowolf's head in quick succession.

 _Behind me._

I parried the snake's diving head, making it hiss and back off, observing me. I'd heard that Grimm were intelligent, but this… this was more intelligence than what I expected with Qrow's botched intel.

But then again, it was botched so I shouldn't really rely on it, should I?

I melted another Boarbatusk's exoskeleton and cut through its hide quick, running forwards quickly. _Left, decapitated Beowolf, Right, dead pig, above, dead Ursa, front, pierced a few wolves. Slow._

I don't know why I expected this mission to be too hard.

 _I should slap myself._ I shouldn't have tempted fate.

Thankfully, Fate didn't act yet and I didn't find myself surrounded by Elder Grimm. The snake hissed at me and dove forwards. I jumped, making it miss and hit the ground instead. My sword, still glowing green, dropped through its neck, leaving it dead.

I twirl my sword around, fully cutting off the head and dropping it to the earth. I turn around to take care of the dozens of other Grimm in the surroundings before I dove to the right, following my danger sense.

It was the snake, except it was white. It was hissing at me, and it looked pissed. I glanced at over where I killed the other snake. Seeing it was still dead, I was sort of thankful this wasn't some sort of powerboost.

"Got you pissed, didn't I?" I murmured. Over the sound of the growls and howls, it wouldn't be heard, and I intend to keep it that way.

I charged my semblance to my blade again and run forward, parrying any attacks that came close to me and slicing off appendages and the occasional head. The snake slithered faster than I thought it would, making me slice empty air when I went for its head.

My eyes widened as it went for my sides, but I successfully parried the attack and was instead sent back into the sea of Grimm.

I cursed as I was sent flying, but I activated my Semblance again, this time, using my new perk **Vacuum** towards the annoying snake.

I don't think it expected me to rebound, because it stopped hissing when I flew back and sliced its head off.

I rolled as I landed behind the dead snake Grimm, noting with satisfaction that the snake's body landed after I crouched. I stood up and observed the Grimm around me. They were a bit hesitant to fight me now, though a bit more angry.

Instead of attacking like I expected, however, the lesser Grimm retreated inside the cave. I cut down as much Grimm that was passing as I can, more than a few bearing fatal lacerations and several dead when they ran.

Watching the Grimm retreat in the cave, I could only tilt my head in confusion.

 _I thought Grimm were mindless creatures—_ my thoughts were cut off when I heard a rumble behind me.

"What's up with powerful Grimm deciding to come out of the ground to surprise me?" I sighed. I was likely not to get an answer.

The ground broke open as a black pincer appeared. A little more behind it, a golden stinger pierced the ground, and the ground broke off as an oversized scorpion took itself off the ground and shook off the earth that it came with.

My god.

It was armored on the points that I could easily graze. The weak points themselves were filled with earth, which would make anyone with a normal sword or rapier deflate.

Not with the sword I have, though.

I jumped as the scorpion used its tail to try to pierce me, burying it on the solid earth below. I heard it growl in annoyance for a second as it tried to pry its stinger free from the earth, but a single second is enough for me to push myself forward with my Semblance and melt the appendage from the scorpion.

It made a loud, unfamiliar sound that was akin to something in pain. Its eyes flashed dangerously as it crawled near me. I just ready myself in response, eyes narrowed as I prepared myself. In a blur, I was in front of it, my sword positioned right in front of its face, already glowing green. It easily plunges into the supposedly powerful armor, making it scream and then settle down, before disintegrating into particles.

I disable the sword's effect with satisfaction as I watch it disintegrate. While it wasn't as hard as it could have been, it _was_ one of the harder things that I had to fight. I imagine that without this new sword, it would be pretty annoying to fight something that had no chinks in its armor.

Out of nowhere, a Nevermore crashed behind me. I throw myself forwards and twist my foot, making me face the already disintegrating Nevermore. I see Qrow jump off and casually flick something, making the _scythe_ on his hands transform into a sword.

"Is there anything else your weapon can turn into?" I asked him, irritated. Why did he need a scythe if he already had a sword?

He shrugged in response. "None, really. You've seen all that you needed," He glanced behind me. "Is that a Deathstalker?"

"A Deathstalker?" I questioned, confusion overtaking my features for a moment. "You mean the scorpion?"

He paused. "Yeah, the scorpion. Did it give you any trouble?"

I shook my head. "Was it supposed to?"

Qrow sighed. " _Yes._ I saw that thing up in the air while you were having fun with the King Taijitu—the snake. Yes, it's the snake. Learn your Grimm next time—It was older than the intel suggested. Be more careful."

I grunted. "I pretty much thought that when I saw the Giant Nevermores. Don't need to tell me twice."

He stares at me, baffled. "You know what Nevermores are but not what Deathstalkers and Taijitus are?"

"I don't like birds that could eat me up if I went to high with my Aerokinesis."

Qrow pinched the bridge of his nose and groaned. "Of course."

We take cautious steps forward, watching the cave for any Grimm movement. "You know, I would be proud of you essentially taking care of the Grimm presence in the surface," Qrow admitted as we stood outside the cave. "Not a lot of Huntsmen could do that, and they're usually pretty good."

"Thank you," I didn't turn to look at him when I acknowledged his compliment, too busy observing the darkness of the cave for anything hidden. "Do you see anything?"

I don't see his face, but I imagine he raised a brow. "Doesn't your ability help with that?"

"I can't raise my base stats, and it's at 3. I intend to get something for it," I answered. I can't see anything other than the darkness, so I hope Qrow can do it.

Instead, he just shook his head when I snuck a glance at him. "Nah, we're clear. Still though, you have low charisma and low vision—"

" _Perception,"_ I corrected him.

" _Perception,_ " He repeated with more than a little sarcasm. "Do you have anything else that's low?"

I shook my head as a no. "My Endurance and Luck is average, which is 5. Intelligence is above average at 7, Strength is a point above at 8 so I'm way stronger than anyone above my age and possibly older, and my Agility is maxed at 10, making me faster than a lot of things. And people. I'm fast in general."

"Obviously, speed isn't the only advantage with that," Qrow surmised. He was right, I suppose.

"Yeah. Attack speed, which is _exactly_ as it sounds scales off it too. I'm also quick on my feet and move more fluidly. I have speed _and_ grace."

Qrow just shook his head with a sigh. "I think I know why you wanted to keep this power a secret, I'm getting jealous on how broken it is already."

"Don't lie to me, uncle."

"You're right, I _am_ jealous," He smirks and ruffles my hair. "Now, let's jump in the hellhole, shall we?"

"There's a hole inside?"

"… Does your low charisma affect your perception on expressions too?" Qrow asked, exasperated.

"It's actually a bit of both. Charisma and Perception, I mean." I supplied him, watching as he groaned and palmed his head.

" _How am I gonna get you better at talking to people if we can't even change that?_ "

Well eventually, I convinced Qrow to not charge in yet, not until we got what we needed, like flashlights. He seemed to accept that reasoning, so he got out a scroll, _a device so wonderful that I wonder why I don't have it yet_ , and called in the Bullhead.

The pilot landed outside the cave, its blades kicking up dust under it as it landed. Qrow rushed for the Bullhead and went in quickly, before getting out with two miner caps and tossing one to me. He gave the pilot a thumbs up, to which the pilot responded by making the Bullhead gather more power and fly away before looking back on the cave.

"There's your cap, snowflake." He snorted.

"I don't want to fight anything I can't see," I tell him seriously. "Low perception sucks."

"You basically got through an army of Grimm with instincts and you're telling me that you can't get through a cave of them."

"The winds don't help me perceive much in a cave."

It was true. My semblance was very helpful in regards to my lack of Perception. It gave me a sort of perception around me as long as the winds were blowing, which means with my semblance, always blowing thus giving me an advantage on any open area. In an enclosed space like the cave, however, the winds were far weaker and thus gives me a lower perception bonus. The only bonus I retained regardless of area was _Air Step_ , which gives me a 30% boost in Speed.

Huh, actually, if I get Light Feet with it, I would be even faster.

That's going to be my next Trait. 20% boost was nothing to scoff at, especially if the base stats were already big enough already.

"You use your winds to feel—actually, you know what? I'll just stop questioning it. I should just accept that my apprentice is broken." Qrow sighed yet again as he accepted my abilities.

"My abilities scale off with my age." I added helpfully, just to get a rise out of him.

"And you're 12, nearing 13, right?" I feel like he's going to bang his head on something now. "I can't believe I'm just realizing this now."

I rolled my eyes and turn on my miner cap. The cave was something typical of a game design. A large cavern from an unassuming entrance, and an even bigger cave entrance inside it. The ground was weathered with the footsteps of the Grimm, the walls having several claw marks and even a Beowolf shaped indent on it. Nice.

Qrow and I rush forward, immediately stopping to investigate inside the entrance. There was nothing inside the entrance except two pathways. I could see the Grimm's footsteps on both paths. Qrow and I shared a look.

"Should we split up?" I asked, hesitant, waiting for his response.

He looked conflicted for a moment, eyes flicking towards the two pathways then to me, then to the sword currently strapped to my waist (the strap coming along with the sword). It glinted in the light the cap flashed, making it seem more dangerous than it was before.

"My good conscience that sounds like Taiyang is telling me to keep you close to me and wait for reinforcements," He smirked. "But I've seen what you can do with that sword. You're definitely better at it than me at both skill and control." He paused as he casually strolled towards the left path.

"Give 'em hell, kid." With that, he dashed inside.

A prompt surfaced on my vision, and I read it as quick as I could.

 **Quest Updated: Grim Outcome**

 **Destroy the Grimm's Nest**

 **Meet up with Qrow at the end of the tunnels**

Well if there's an upside to this whole thing, I get to kill Grimm and there's a proverbial if not literal light to the end of this tunnel. I dash to the right path and run as fast as I could, oddly noting the lack of Grimm in the tunnel.

 _Shouldn't have thought that_ , I thought as a _gargoyle_ of all things appeared on my path. It had a Grimm Mask adorned over the head of the Gargoyle, and I wasted no time burying my sword into its mask, quickly strapping my sword again.

 _Thank God for the Quick Draw skills,_ I sighed. _Bladed Mastery was a really good investment._

The Bladed Mastery trait was good in more ways than one. Other than giving me more attack speed and damage with anything bladed, I learned that I could use my aura to do sword skills. Some were Quick Draw ones, like the one I just executed, others were Power Strikes or Combo Skills like _Atom_ , which was essentially 12 quick and hard hits that would probably cut something like a Beowolf into several pieces, though I imagine with this new sword… I salivate at the thought.

There _was_ the downside however, of me having to state the name of the skill if it's more than 5 hits. Thankfully, I can keep it as quiet as I want, but I don't want to ruin my surprise factor so early into the fight. There was no silent casting trait yet, but I imagine it won't be long if I keep on going on Extermination missions.

Qrow looked awfully pleased at my work and he didn't seem fazed after he killed all the Nevermores on the skies. I'm detecting a lack of care, that, or he does this a lot.

I skid to a stop as I enter a big cavern. Seeing as there was no Qrow I assume it's not our rendezvous. There's also the issue of a lot of lesser Grimm being on the cavern. I guess this is where my half went when they ran away.

Remember my Combo Skills that I just explained a while back?

Well…

" _Atom._ " I uttered, executing a 12-hit combo skill. Looking at the results of 12 white slashes that seemed to appear out of nowhere kill countless Grimm, I couldn't help but feel a bit smug.

With the single skill, I had carved out an area for me to dash in and execute my skills. " _Swords Dance._ " Unfortunately, it wasn't like the Pokemon move which let me get better speed and damage. It was, however, a glorified spin attack. I was a metal beyblade, except I killed monsters instead of people.

Did beyblades even kill people?

I don't remember.

I stopped spinning after the 21st hit, the maximum hit for the move and activated yet another combo skill. " _Release._ "

It was a skill that I named myself. While for any other slow outsider, it looked like it was only 3 sword slashes in a straight line. In reality, it was actually several slashes in those three lines which allows me to kill more stuff as I can just cut through the initial resistance a few times to get further. In total, it was a 24 hit combo.

It was, in a way, a release of my sword.

The Grimm in front of me were disintegrating as I strapped my weapon to my side again casually. Thank God they were gone. These small fry were boring but there were a lot of them and I didn't want to waste more than a few minutes even if it meant me use high cost skills. Though they did give EXP—wait, did I just level up? Holy shit, let me see that.

 **Crimson Branwen (LV. 8)**

 **Health: 270**

 **Aura: 200**

 **Semblance: Aerokinesis**

 **Experience: 200/11000**

 **S – 8**

 **P – 3**

 **E – 5**

 **C – 2**

 **I – 7**

 **A – 10**

 **L – 5**

 **Skills:**

 **Speech (Charisma): 32**

 **Barter (Charisma): 15**

 **Bladed Melee (Agility): 100**

 **Blunt Melee (Strength): 49**

 **Unarmed (Endurance): 18**

 **Small Guns (Agility): 25**

 **Big Guns (Strength): 20**

 **Lockpick (Perception): 10**

 **Repair (Intelligence): 18**

 **Smith (Intelligence): 18**

 **Computers (Intelligence): 18**

 **Sneak (Agility): 51**

 **Medicine (Intelligence): 18**

 **Aura Manipulation (Intelligence): 64**

 **Available Points: 17**

Well that solves my low Aura problem.

I didn't have anything to use my points on yet. My semblance didn't need that much of Aura Manipulation, and I doubt any of the combat skills could aid me here right now. I decide to hold off on spending my points and skip into the Traits section to choose my new trait.

 _Light Feet._

 **Trait earned: Light Feet**

 **Your feet are lighter now! Makes player faster by 20%.**

Is it just me, or is my ability making more jokes or snide comments the more I grow up?

Dismissing the prompt, I feel the effects of the trait take hold. My feet really _did_ feel lighter, and a short dart to the left made me go a bit further than I intended. That was good. I'm faster now, this should help if there's a boss battle that needs to be fought.

I looked straight forward and saw the tunnel again. I looked behind me to confirm that I didn't spin in the wrong direction.

It looked the same.

I took a deep breath to avoid saying a prolonged 'Fuck,' and thought of my options. I _could_ check on both options, but I doubted Qrow would appreciate waiting for me nor would I appreciate having to dash back and forth. I considered my options and—

Wait, I can control the wind. There's no natural wind that blows inside the cave so…

I make the wind blow inside the cave. It was a bit odd, but the gust of wind came from in front of me so the entrance should have been that direction.

I turn around and shoot forward to make up for the lost time. I ignore the lesser Grimm that seemed to have been on the ground that I accidentally stepped on, making them howl in pain and chase after me through the tight tunnel. If there was an end to this tunnel, I could probably choke them all and kill them quickly. If there was a cavern like earlier, however, I bet there could be another one.

Well, if anything, it was a baseless hope. But a hope, nonetheless. The horde of Grimm behind me hasn't gotten close yet and they don't seem to be shrinking nor growing. _Good._ That means this tunnel is on me.

Seeing as there won't be a literal light on the end of this tunnel, I skid forward and rotate 180 degrees, towards the Grimm. My sword held beside me as I charge it up with Aura, glowing a bright green on the dark cave around me, making my face glow as I face the midnight horde with the speck of red in the occasional spot.

Unlike my previous skills, this one didn't need an outward cast. I could do it silently since it didn't exceed more than 5 hits. It was also much simpler, though a bit bigger than normal and charged with a different element.

You may remember it as a **Wind Blade.**

I slash my sword horizontally, green tinting the winds as it easily cut through the first wave of Grimm. As expected, it didn't take out all of the Grimm, but it didn't eat up a lot of my Aura either, my Aura Regeneration which I attributed to Aura Manipulation working wonders. I should max that out soon.

I redo my slash several more times, cutting down hordes of Grimm in the numbers. It was a simple yet effective skill. The Grimm, even if they could learn from the attack, would still be hard pressed to avoid it considering they were in a tight space. My wind blade has a set height, and setting it diagonally makes me take full advantage of my situation.

While it carved a straight path in the middle of the horde, I lunge forward and jump high, avoiding the claws of a Beowolf that got a bit too close for comfort (or maybe it was the other way around since _I_ was the one who lunged).

Do you know the feeling in a game?

Where even your low level skills would decimate hordes of enemies and you can't help but feel proud as you showcase your skills to a bunch of newbies?

Well there weren't any newbies but the acid tinged Shockwave was something I'm still proud of doing on the fly (or fall). The Grimm that weren't murdered by the Wind Blades were being currently melted by the acid dust, those a bit further away from my effective range experiencing a burning sensation as they still howled but didn't have any noticeable acidic effects like melting their faces off. Sad.

I lunge towards the nearest Ursa that was affected by the acidic shockwave, clawing at the parts most affected by the attack. I swipe at its waist, effectively cutting it in half and darting to the side to impale a Grimm through the chest, killing it.

I tore off my sword, making the Grimm drop to the floor to disintegrate before I parried a powerful punch from another one of those statue things, except instead of a Gargoyle, it was an inanimate statue of a non descript Hunter.

Thankfully, they did _not_ inherit the skills of said Hunter, otherwise, I would have had more trouble than it was worth. I quickly deflected another of its attacks and lunge forward, my sword poised towards its head.

It worked and I penetrated through its mask. The statue turned inanimate again as the ghostly Grimm got brought along with my lunge, disintegrating on the way down as I brought my sword to cut down another Grimm, an Ursa.

I slash in front of me, taking care of a handful of Beowolves that thought they could overwhelm me. I bring my sword behind me and twist to pierce an Ursa's heart that thought it could claw my head off, I parried five several Beowolf attacks and cut off all their heads. I don't know what I felt, but I was finally feeling the extent of my abilities for once. While my Endurance was only average on Huntsman's standards, it was still quite high and being tired was one of the few things I didn't get to enjoy on Patch. A grin started to come across my face as I cut down many of the Grimm in this tunnel, feeding my battle lust.

And so, after that, none was left. Not a single one beside the statues of the ghost Grimm that I fought, the remains of the other types of Grimm already dissolving into nothingness. I twirl my sword and strap it to my side again, reminding myself exactly why I need a sheath.

A wind blew inside the tunnels, and I set my gaze on the direction it was going. The path was clear. There were no more Grimm in these tunnels anymore, and if there were any, they'd have been dragged into the mess I made in this tunnel. I grimaced as I noticed several cuts in the walls and deep indents of the Grimm I sometimes send into the walls.

 _Well at least this doesn't count as property damage._

I don't have any money to pay for that and I don't know how I would make money to pay for the amount of damage I would inevitably do.

I took one look at my surroundings again and dashed towards the direction opposite the origin of the wind, intent on meeting up with Qrow at the end of this tunnel, which the Quest prompt implied. Hopefully, it didn't mean that I'll end up with Qrow fighting a boss Grimm.

Hopefully.

Thankfully, there _was_ an end to the tunnel. After 10 minutes of running, I saw the end of the tunnel. There was no light, however, which disappointed my creative mind. This was enough however since I am frankly sick of tunnels as of today.

I slowed down to a stop as I observed the cavern I found myself in. It was bigger than the previous one, that one was something I'm sure of. It was shaped like a cone. There were only two noticeable entrances to this position, which is the one where I came from and the other to my left. I tried to look down, but it was a hard drop and I couldn't see anything besides a dark hole. Currently, I stand just a little bit from my entrance, drinking in the scenery and possible boss room, trying to use my Aura boosted Perception as much as I can.

 _This isn't natural_.

Anyone with half a brain would know that. If it was some ancient civilization or if it was some project by the Grimm, however, remains to be seen. Honestly, I don't know which would be more terrifying. A civilization capable of doing this then dying to the Grimm or the Grimm as a capable hive mind.

Actually, if they _were_ a hive mind, they would learn more from every Grimm that died. _That's_ a zerg thought if it wasn't already, and one I would never want to entertain again.

I heard a bit of footsteps on the left and I snapped my head towards it. My hand unstrapped my sword and held it in a ready stance, just in case it wasn't my good for nothing Uncle.

It was him.

 **Quest Updated: Grim Outcome**

 **Destroy the Grimm's Nest**

 **Completed: Meet up with Qrow at the end of the tunnels**

"Uncle Qrow!" I called out to him. He didn't look worse for wear, but he didn't look a bit tired either. I wondered if he met any Grimm on the way, and decided to ask him now. "Did you meet any Grimm on the way here?"

"No." Qrow's expression, which was a bit calm, twisted into concern when I asked. "Did you?"

"I met a few," I confirmed. "Though if you didn't meet any then it was probably what was left of the army from the surface."

Qrow's concerned face paled. "Oh crap, your dad is going to kill me."

"I don't think that should be your concern right now," I state dryly. "Look down, can you see anything?"

Qrow acknowledged my jab and request. He looked down, red eyes squinting for any source of movement as his miner cap's light showed a deeper hole than I thought. "I got nothing down there. Are you getting anything?"

"I lost my cap during the fight with the horde, so I couldn't examine anything," I informed him. "Cave's shaped like a cone though, that much I know."

"Yeah and if what you're saying is true, then there shouldn't be any Grimm left here." Qrow grumbled. "Really, why'd I even bother offering my help if you could just demolish the Grimm here?"

"I had the advantage of a choke point and my versatile sword skills," I snorted. "To be honest, I just whittled a few down from the front with a few wind blades then tore them apart when I hit enough Grimm with the Acidic Shockwave."

Qrow slowly nodded. "Smart. Acid isn't something mostly used in combat because it usually hurts the user as much as it hurts the enemy but," he glanced at me. "You don't seem to have a problem."

"I don't," I agreed wholeheartedly. "It's a sword. I'm good with swords."

"Yes, you're good at swords." Qrow admitted with a sigh. "With how much I've seen of your skills, I'm inclined to believe that you're almost as good as any third year on Beacon already. And if you're truthful about the Grimm on your way here—"

"And I am," I quipped.

"Then it's pretty safe to say you're at least fourth year level." Qrow finished.

"Only fourth year?" I asked him, disappointed. "Really?"

He looks at me dryly. "Those were Beowolves, Ursa, and Boarbatusks. They weren't even relatively old yet."

I nodded. "I also fought some ghost Grimm that possessed some statues. They were annoying."

He jerked towards me. "You fought Geists?" He sounded bewildered.

"Yeah, they were really easy to fight too," I added. "Just go for their masks. It helped that they kept their possessions small."

Qrow palmed his face. "Geists usually take over big stuff," He explained slowly, as if he was talking to a child.

…

I am offended.

"I've seen one take over a bunch of boulders and become a giant towering over any attack my team and I made. We cut off an arm, it took over a tree. We cut off a leg, it took over a boulder. They were usually fast too." He sighed again. "You're really lucky, kiddo."

I shrugged. "I don't count myself as lucky. I only have 5 on luck right now."

He stared at me.

I stare back.

"I know I said I don't mind your power, but it can also manipulate luck?" He asked, incredulous.

"One thing I know is to never bring it down to 1." I nodded like someone with a lot of experience.

"Then it should be good enough to tell you that my semblance is basically misfortune," Qrow informed me.

"Well that makes sen—wait, what?"

The ground beneath us rumbled as finally, something happened after our catch up. I caught Qrow's semblance of misfortune and deduced the fact that it was causing misfortune.

Unfortunately (no pun intended), I don't think this was misfortune on his part.

The hole beneath was then filled by an enormous worm like Grimm, flesh as dark as the night, red eyes on the side of its head and its mouth shaped like a cone. It was smaller than the cavern but just as big as the hole as it stared down at us, opening its mouth, which spread itself into three triangles with rows and rows of teeth inside and _screaming._

I asked Qrow numbly. "I don't suppose this was the cause of your semblance?"

"Nope," he answered just as numbly, popping the P. "I've seen worse, but that was an entrance."

"I haven't," I replied honestly.

 **Quest Updated: Grim Outcome**

 **Destroy the Grimm's Nest**

 **Kill the Nydus Worm**

Haha, it's funny because I said Zerg awhile ago.

Thankfully, it didn't do anything to attack us but instead, opened its mouth further to release hordes of Beowolves into the fray. Qrow was already in action, killing off packs of them as he held them off.

"We need to hold them off until reinforcements arrive!" Qrow shouted over the growls and parries of our weapons. "We can't let these out into the surface!"

"Like Hell I didn't know that!" I snarled as I _barely_ parried a slash from a Beowolf. Unlike before, I didn't have a choke point to hold and the Beowolves were slowly circling us. We _could_ go back into the caves, but I'm unsure of whether or not the Nydus Worm could take advantage of that to eat or trap us, so we essentially have to wait for others.

 **Quest Updated: Grim Outcome**

 **Destroy the Grimm's Nest**

 **Kill the Nydus Worm**

 **Survive (4:58)**

Oh, there's a timer.

For what, my reinforcements or the Nydus unleashing some God knows what attack, I didn't know. But if the Quest was telling me to survive for 5 goddamn minutes then I'm going to survive 5 goddamn minutes.

 **-16 HP**

 _Thank god for Aura,_ I hissed as a Beowolf got a lucky nick on me. Nick was a light word when a Beowolf clawed my side. While years ago that would have caused me problems (like shaving off half my health for instance), my Aura has improved significantly since then, and the same can be said about my natural vitality.

 **Survive (3:34)**

Just a few more now, I grit my teeth as I deflected a strike and activated an Acidic Shockwave, affecting the nearby wolves and making them yelp in pain. I couldn't afford to activate it full power with Qrow nearby as he had his own wolf problems. I'm a bit thankful that it's just some relatively young Beowolves because if it was anything else but, I imagine we wouldn't have a chance to walk out of this alive.

 **Survive (2:46)**

So close, nearly half the time left. This timer must be slow, or Qrow and I are moving fast. I stabbed another Beowolf and sent it flying to a group that was trying to get past me, making me jump towards them and slash off their heads. I twist and slash diagonally, activating the sword, which made the wolves behind the ones I slashed feel the acidic pain.

 **Survive (2:13)**

I jump back, panting heavily. My HP was on 264 out of 270, Aura already doing its work. But because of that and my use of skills, I'm running pretty low on juice. I can see Qrow getting tired too, so I decide to jump in with him and rely on my sword skills more than my Aura instead.

 **Survive (1:38)**

I slash down a wolf as Qrow takes off the heads of a few wolves behind me. I lunge forward and plunge my blade on the throat of a stray wolf that got in my way, tearing its throat off as I took my sword out and decapitated another wolf. Qrow shot off a few rounds and I saw several wolves fall down with bullet holes. I nod at him and I take his side as he took mine, switching targets. It was a good way to recover at least, since my side had the least wolves and he can have more rest while I fight with my regained energy, though I imagine the horde would move to him again mainly because of his Aura.

 **Survive (0:30)**

Not for long now, reinforcements are coming. Relief flooded through me and I yelled at my Uncle, who just took down several wolves at once. "I can feel them coming!" and I did. There were 2 of them from what I can tell with my winds. They were hauling ass down the left tunnel and trying to make it to us as quickly as possible, which is the only thing I could hope for at the moment.

 **Survive (0:15)**

Not long now. The hunters were close. I murdered another pack of Beowolves but _they just won't stop coming!_

 **Quest Updated: Grim Outcome**

 **Destroy the Grimm's Nest**

 **Kill the Nydus Worm**

 **Completed: Survive**

 _Fucking finally,_ I thought as I panted with exhaustion. Sweat lined my brow and my grip on my sword was weakening. Qrow was a tad better as he handled exhaustion better than I did and frankly had more skills with missions than me. He stood tall, his sword held in front of him as he stared down the Grimm army, which just kept growing every second.

"Beowolves," I said through breaths. "never thought they'd be some of the things I'd need to take care of."

Qrow snorted. "All Grimm are dangerous, kid. In a situation like this, Beowolves are a great choice as they're usually pack nuts."

"Hello?! Is anyone there?" Someone shouted. _Reinforcements._

Qrow couldn't resist to form a smile on his face, and neither could I. "We need some help!"

In the scheme of things, I don't know how two hunters could help in an army of Grimm. I was already preparing to haul ass the moment Qrow told me to run. I was prepared to abandon this quest to save my own life. I was _not_ prepared to handle a few more minutes of holding off the horde. Fuck.

I had leveled up once on battle, and now had 1450 EXP to 13000 to my next level. I have 34 points left and considering I have 64 Aura Manipulation, I decided not to cuck myself and spent it all on Aura Manipulation.

Immediately, I felt a change. I could _use_ my Aura better. I took a peak at my Active Skills and saw the change, their costs were drastically reduced. I wonder if I could get a similar bonus to what I got when I maxed out Bladed Melee, which was the different perk tree, or if I would get something else.

I could feel my Aura regenerating faster, but unfortunately, I didn't feel my fatigue go away. Some things that Aura can't fully fix, I suppose.

Qrow glanced at me and noticed the change. "What happened?"

"I put 34 points to Aura Manipulation, which makes me better at Aura and improves its regeneration," I whispered, careful to not say it too loud. "Its 2 points from perfection."

"Of course," Qrow set his eyes on the horde. They were waiting now, growing in number.

"What's taking them so long?"

"I—" Suddenly, there was a hole on the wall beside us and two hunters busted out. One was a male who had red hair and was wearing a red suit. He had a club strapped behind him, a club he was already reaching for. The other one was a girl with blue hair, wearing a white shirt inside a cyan coat that was buttoned below her cleavage, which was thankfully covered by her shirt.

"I don't think my weapon can help much in this," the girl said as she observed the Grimm. Her eyes narrowed when she saw the Nydus, though. "But I can help with that."

And with that, she put her arms forward and her eyes glowed. A translucent barrier appeared between it and us, the only other thing that separated the worm from us was the Beowolf army, which had started to growl angrily.

The club in the red guy's hand started to _shift_ into something else, though it was less noticeable. He held it to his shoulders and I realized.

It was a bazooka.

He shot a red rocket towards the mass of Grimm, making it explode into _fire and brimstone._

Well, maybe not the brimstone, but there _was_ a lot of fire. The fire spread to some wolves, and he glanced at us and shifted his weapon back to a club. "Ready?"

Qrow snorted. "Ready."

We dashed forward, the four of us. Age didn't seem to matter to anyone here. I was the only 12 year old among them but they didn't seem to mind working with me, that or they haven't realized I'm 12 yet. The two looked to be in their early twenties, meaning they should be fourth years or new graduates, and Qrow was older than the three of us. We cut down the Beowolf army with ease now that there was not a constant supply of them anymore. It was kind of a pity, really. The only thing they had going for them was sheer amount and even that failed them when our reinforcements arrived…

 _Though, it makes me wonder what the girl's soul is like,_ I idly note about her semblance while I watch her gun down several wolves with her uzi fists. _Would it be that she likes setting walls between her and people?_

 _Then again, I don't even know what_ _my_ _semblance means and I've been using it for years. I should stop speculating and keep fighting._

And keep fighting I did, until we cleared the infestation and made it to the Worm.

The wall went down, and the Worm seemed to be tired from releasing all those Beowolves. It was limp, so to speak. It had its head curled down with less strength than what it had when it came in 5 minutes ago. I guess I would be a bit weak after puking out disease, too.

Qrow goes in first, jumping to its head and grabbing it at the neck with the blade of his scythe and pulling hard. He immediately disengages as he sees that it doesn't work, only forming a gash on the place where he cut. He curses and jumps off, rolling as he sees the Worm regain a bit of strength.

It roared.

Instead of an endless army of Beowolves, it puked out a handful of Ursa and Boarbatusks. Thankfully, these weren't a lot, but the Worm was still puking them out, so collectively, they will be dangerous.

"We'll handle them!" The red guy told us, watching the Grimm grow in number. "Go, sir!"

Oh so that's why they didn't mention me. They didn't notice me yet.

I took a deep breath and lunged.

I cut down as much Grimm as I can while I dash past them to make our reinforcement's job easier to handle. Glancing to the side, I see Qrow doing the same thing, his eyes set on the Worm as he twirled his scythe around to murder the Grimm around him.

My sword glows an eerie green and I jump towards the Worm, making it jerk its vision towards me and cutting off the way its supplying the Grimm. It screeched at my sword and it started rumbling, but I was faster.

I slash at its flesh, seeing the acid eat through its hide. My eyes widened and I snorted.

"Qrow, its weakness is acid!"

He smirked.

"It's our lucky day today, isn't it?" Qrow so casually stated, changing his scythe into a shotgun and loading a different magazine in.

My sword glows. "I have no idea what you're talking about," I replied as I dashed forward, the green glow forming a trail behind me as I dash past the obstacles in front of me. I tune out the explosions and SMG fire from our huntsman and woman friends. I skid right in front of it, my sword already in motion for a horizontal slash. There was a shot behind me, and bullets bury itself into the oversized Worm's head, green coloring the wounds. It roared, but I was faster.

A Wind Blade came out of my sword slash that was already coated in acid. It was big enough that it encompassed the worm's whole neck, making it stiffen up and stop roaring. I couldn't help it though, so I yelled as I jumped and _dove down its mouth_.

Qrow was probably thinking of his own funeral now.

I wasn't done with life yet, though. I immediately turned my sword's ability on, making it glow green. I stabbed it at the flesh around me, making it sizzle as the surrounding flesh turned dark green.

I stop holding on to the side of its throat and keep falling down. _I imagined it would be a long fall but this is just ridiculous,_ I thought as I slid down even more. Eventually, I stopped channeling power into the sword and hung on again, before gathering air beneath me and… explosively releasing it to throw me up.

I succeeded launching myself upwards, but unfortunately, I will not go through the mouth.

I put my sword up and activate it again. I look down and see countless Grimm pouring out from some places I couldn't see, but I was faster than them due to the matter of my explosive wind. I look up and see its head closing in, the green glow making it hard to not see it.

I pierced through it like a bullet.

And what happens when a bullet goes past a person's head?

Usually, there's a blood splatter. In my case, I buried myself into the ceiling.

"… Ow." I blandly said as the Grimm fell down into its own hole, falling to its death. While its already dying. Ouch. Meanwhile, I'm above it and my sword is impaled. I activate the acid dust, but I forgot exactly where I was and would have fell back in the hole if Qrow didn't grab me.

"That was reckless," Qrow reprimanded me. "You're an idiot." He seemed too tired to honestly give a shit.

I shrugged. "It worked, didn't it?"

"That, it did." Qrow agreed and closed his eyes."That, it did."

 **Quest Completed: Grim Outcome**

 **Completed: Destroy the Grimm's Nest**

 **Completed: Kill the Nydus Worm**

 **\+ 15000 EXP**

Oh boy, I just leveled up.

I don't even care, I just wanna rest… for… the rest… of the day…

With that thought, I passed out for the first time in years.

* * *

 _ **A/N**_

 _ **Hello,**_

 _ **Yes, the Nydus Worm is from StarCraft 2. It was something I found amusing as I took a few seconds to think about it. A Grimm that could house and send other Grimm to places closer to the kingdoms. Ha. Grimm Nest and Monster in one.**_

 _ **People would be wondering where he stands right now so hmm…**_

 _ **Well, let's assume people have specific skills instead of general ones like Crimson has, so instead of Bladed Melee, Ruby would have Scythes instead etc. (just a rough idea)**_

 _ **At Volume 1, Ruby would have 65/100 on Scythes,**_

 _ **At Volume 1, Yang would have 60/100 on Unarmed**_

 _ **At Volume 1, Blake would have 70/100 on Swords**_

 _ **At Volume 1, Weiss would have 65/100 on Rapier**_

 _ **Qrow would have 85~/100 on Scythes,**_

 _ **Ozpin would have 95/100 on whatever weapon he's using (Sword?) though could be raised to 100 if I actually get to research him,**_

 _ **Raven is arguably 90+/100 on swords as well,**_

 _ **And then some other points on other stuff like casting, stuff**_

 _ **Also, skills also depend on SPECIALs**_

 _ **So let's say Qrow has 8 agility and has 100 Bladed Melee and Crimson has 10 Agility but 80 Bladed Melee**_

 _ **Crimson would be a tad bit better than Qrow because he can utilize the skill more effectively than Qrow can.**_

 _ **Also, someone asked for SPECIALs combination and yes, they would be quite different. Someone with I1 C10 for example, would be a good talker. Could be a leader, but simply lacks the intelligence to strategize and could be used as an inspirer instead.**_

 _ **But someone with I10 and C10 would be somewhat self aware that they are in a story, a story they can't change and would be somewhat pessimistic**_

 _ **I also thought of Crimson with I10 and A8, which I glorified with an omake that I will share here:**_

* * *

Omake (The Magus)

Crimson twisted to face the endless horde of monsters. Behind him was a wall of stone. He couldn't pass that, nor can he expect anything behind it if he were to blow it up. So instead, he will face his enemies head on.

No strategies for this one. His eyes scanned the scene before him, taking in the possible escape routes and weak points in their formation.

Namely, there were none.

So he sighed.

His eyes glowed blue, his skin started glowing, and he started to _talk._

" _I am the bone of my sword,"_

* * *

 _ **Pfft, yeah. No. Maybe in some alternate universe, but yeah.**_

 _ **Different SPECIALs combination make a different person. Crimson has A10 and S8 and I7, but P3 and C2, which made him slower to perceive changes in emotion and noticing stuff and talking in general but better at fighting.**_

 _ **To put into perspective on how bad he is at talking to people, I would say that Ruby has C – 4.**_

 _ **Also, some other standards for SPECIALs**_

 _ **3 – Civilian**_

 _ **5 – Huntsman with Aura**_

 _ **7 – Above Average**_

 _ **8 – Exemplary**_

 _ **10 – Perfect**_

 _ **Anything below 3 is sad. Thankfully, Crimson has C2 so he isn't that bad so he can be mistaken as a broody person like Sasuke or shy like normal shy people.**_

 _ **Anyway, I think that's about it,**_

 _ **Remember;**_

 _ **Semi serious, so don't take it seriously**_

 _ **Take this story with a grain of salt**_

 _ **Reviews are appreciated, but not necessary**_


	4. Year 1

_A/Ns at the bottom of the chapter_

* * *

 _I don't own RWBY, they belong to Rooster Teeth_

 _I only own my OCs_

… _do roosters even have teeth?_

* * *

" _ocs are cancer, gamer is a cancerous trope, what do you get when you combine them? this stinking pile of excreement." Word per word, Guest._

* * *

 _13 months after_ _ **Grim Outcome**_ _, 14 years old_

* * *

It's been a year or so after that cruel mission.

I had passed out after the mission and I had to wake up at a clinic bed inside Beacon, where Qrow was apparently doing a report to Ozpin. He also did a report to my dad through the Scroll, which I called him out on, but he ignored my jabs.

We were given a week of rest to recover from the mission that escalated from a B Class Extermination to A Class Extermination and was paid 250000 Lien, which Qrow and I split for ourselves. God knows what Qrow needs 125000 for, but I spent mine on a proper combat outfit and commissioned a bladed sheath and a revolver chamber for my new sword.

Qrow didn't seem to mind on my spending and even called it a common thing among Hunters. I just nodded in agreement. While Acid _was_ good, I can't afford to use it if I'm teaming with a bunch of other people. It's a double edged sword.

My new combat outfit came before my upgraded sword, obviously. It was a dark red cape that reached down to my waist and a black formfitting sleeveless shirt with a red lining on the bottom and my symbol, 3 diagonal red bars, at my chest. My pants were also black and a bit baggy, the ends inside my black boots. My boots were a bit heavy, but it didn't really matter.

And when I finally got my combat outfit, I realized that they actually added _stats._

My red cape sadly didn't give me any bonuses, but my form fitting shirt gave me +1 on Strength, my pants and boots giving me a total of +2 on Endurance. Qrow looked at me weird when I salivated at the thought of clothing combinations.

My new sword was something I loved just as much if not more than its predecessor. I named it _Swigiddy Swoody…_ Well, I would have if Qrow didn't smack me in the head and if the forge guy didn't look at me dirty. Instead, I named it _Dust_. Not really a creative name, but it'll do. It was the same sword, but the blade was a bit longer, now at least four feet long instead of being at most four feet long. The blade— _Dust's_ —edge was still as green as ever, but this time, there was a revolving chamber with 3 dust crystal holders just below the guard, thankfully covered by the grip.

I test it out. The handle was a bit longer because of the chamber, but the blade was still the same. I do the motions to quickly open the compartment and spin, then close it again.

It took below a second, it didn't even bother me.

Agility 10 was really useful.

I nodded in satisfaction and received my new sheath. It was colored a dark gray with crimson on the bottom part closer to the handle. If I pressed a button on the crimson part, the red parts would fold to be a handle and guard and the dark gray would shift from sheath to blade to be a secondary sword for me. There wouldn't be a point—sorry, an edge on it, and no dust compartment. It would be a rectangular bladed sword like those in Attack on Titan.

To be honest?

I didn't care, it looked awesome. I did a flourish with Dust, sheathing it into _Chamber_ , my new sheath-sword, and then pulled out Dust, immediately pressed the button on the side of Chamber, satisfaction coloring my expression as the crimson parts folded into itself to form a handle and guard and the dark gray sheath form blades on the sides. That took less than a second too.

I was giddy with excitement.

I paid the forge guy and burst out of his shop, leaving Qrow behind calling out to me and probably feeling a tad bit more than a little annoyance until I realized I had no idea where I could test it in. Qrow followed me out, smacked me on the head again, and guided me to the Forever Fall forest, to which was the home of some Grimm.

I vaguely remembered filling my revolving chamber with Acid Dust, Gravity Dust, and Ice Dust very quickly and bouncing up and down as he lead me to the area, and Qrow muttering something about my charisma and contradictions.

As soon as we reached the forest, I darted inside. I spotted a pair of Ursa, drew Dust to my right and pressed the button on Chamber and attacked.

I started with Chamber on a diagonal swing, Dust following with a horizontal one as I dashed forward towards the next bear Grimm. Dust was set to impale it through the chest, which it did, quickly tearing out Dust from its chest then bringing in Chamber to the bear's neck and decapitating it.

The Grimm never knew what hit them.

 _God, Dual Wielding is fun,_ I remember thinking. It was, I can attest to that.

But during the other times of the year, there was little else that Qrow and I had to do but do missions. None as dangerous as the named quest, thankfully. They gave at least a thousand experience per mission, with 4500 being the current highest (which was another Extermination Mission).

During the course of the year, I had leveled up only twice. The EXP gain was still the same, but the Experience bar was a bit bigger. 10 to 11 added 10000 to the experience bar instead of my prediction of another added 1000 since the pattern was (From level 1) 1 – 2 – 2 – 1 as far as I could tell. 2 points, of course, went right into Aura Manipulation to max it, which gave me a passive Perk called Sage, which upped my Aura Regen by 300% and made my Aura passives, which had originally given me 50% on all physical stats, 75% instead.

It was amazing.

The rest of the 32 points as dictated by Qrow went right into Speech and barter, 16 each. So my speech went up by 16 and then 5 more points because of experience making it 53 out of a hundred and Barter went to 31 + 1 point when I was bartering for my weapons and outfit.

Sneak went up by 6 more points because of all the reconnaissance missions we did, which was quite frankly, a lot of the missions he did. I don't know _why_ he got a lot of it, but whenever he got a recon mission, I was of course, dragged with him. We infiltrated several White Fang Warehouses and some less descript Crime Lords in Mistral at one point, going in and out, violently if need be.

Since I leveled up a total of five times if we count that Named Quest incident, I got two more traits that I can use. I immediately chose a trait called _Dust 'Till Dawn_ , a trait which gives me 50% more dust efficiency which I shortened to 'making it last longer;. The second one was a little bit more tricky, but eventually, I just used a slot for _Stone Wall_ , which made me immune to any kind of knockback as long as I was standing still.

So essentially, I was fast and couldn't be knocked back. Think of that as you will.

Right now, I was just standing outside the inn Qrow and I were staying in. Right now, both of us were on a Village Protection Mission. Thankfully, it was unnamed, and the quest prompt was still the same with _Protect the Village_ and _Wait for Qrow_. It's been a few hours, but it wasn't unusual. He should be here in a few minutes.

… Should is the keyword.

My cape flapped in the wind as I kept as a expressionless face at my exterior. I could see children look at me in awe while parents dragged them away to ' _not mess with the Hunter's job,_ ' or some other variation. Dust was sheathed inside Chamber, but my hand is resting on Dust should a fight come inside the village.

There was this sinking feeling in my gut, and I couldn't help but feel _paranoid_.

My eyes dart to the left to see a pair of children playing Tag, then to the right to see a woman and her mother finish shopping. A further to the right shows men drinking booze and making drunken comments on things they have no control about.

I looked again.

But this time, _I didn't feel with my eyes._

Wind Perception was a wonderful thing, really. I could get a feel for things out of my view range, and it helps me more because of my low perception. This time, it was really useful since _I can feel multiple people waiting outside the walls._ I don't know what they're doing, but I wouldn't have caught them if they didn't have the need to move. I grimaced.

 **Quest Updated: Family Reunion**

 **Protect the Village**

 **Wait for Qrow**

Oh hell. The mission updated into a _named_ one.

Cursing, I immediately jumped to the highest point of the village. Villagers looked up in confusion, some ushering their children inside worriedly, glancing at my expression and seeing the worry on it. I had drawn Dust and unsheathed (if it was any other situation, I would have snickered) Chamber. I hold them both at my sides, my grip on the uneven swords tight.

 **Quest Updated: Family Reunion**

 **Protect the Village**

 **Completed: Wait for Qrow**

"Crimson!" Qrow was beside me in an instant. "What's the situation?"

I wasted none of my time. "Multiple targets out the village walls. Can't tell if hostile, but if they're waiting outside, then I bet my ass they're hostile."

Qrow nodded and flicked something on his weapon (even now, I have no idea what he flicks or if he _even_ flicks it because I don't really look at his hands) and took it out of its compact form and into its sword form.

Heh, you know, I just realized. Scythe, Shotgun, Sword. SSS.

 _Focus._

"Are the civilians inside?" I asked him. He shakes his head.

"I haven't told them to go inside yet. You hold this position, I'll warn the villagers," with that, he was gone again, sprinting on the streets to usher the villagers inside their homes and to keep them safe. Murmurs were starting to burst from their mouths as they went inside, but panic wasn't a thing yet.

 _They're moving,_ I thought. I felt it. Some of them were starting to advance. A few made to the wall and slammed multiple _somethings_ on it. I looked down and saw Qrow still ushering the people inside, so I dropped down to him and told him the situation.

"They planted something on the walls," I whispered. "C4s, probably. I'm going to go stop them."

Qrow nodded seriously. "Take the bombs out if you can. They could be remote controlled instead of timed."

I nodded and burst into speed.

They were north of the village's wall. I was running fast, the people around me were basically a blur. I reached the wall and I skid to a stop, my legs bending underneath me and jumped as I used _Air Vacuum_ to bring me up further. I rotated the revolving chamber inside Dust's compartment, purple flooding the once green blade, then glowing a deep purple as I fell upon the enemies.

They were dressed oddly, full black. I couldn't hear anything as they whispered among themselves, but I didn't need to.

I wasn't here to scout them out, anyway. I was here to stop them.

I slammed Dust down with an accompanying Shockwave, purple tinting the winds that come with. The bandits were thrown back and then promptly slammed down as the Gravity Dust took effect. I immediately dashed to the wall and see at least 4 C4-type bombs strapped to it.

A bandit growls below me and tries to grab my leg. I pause and slam my foot down on his face, making him hiss in pain, but not knock him out. _Aura._ This isn't any ordinary group.

The bandits were starting to get up, but I have no time to waste. I grabbed the first C4 and threw it as far as possible into the woods. I rotated the chamber inside Dust again, landing it into Ice Dust. The blade changed colors again, this time, instead of deep purple, it was the color of light blue. Cyan.

Frost came off my sword in waves as I dash past the bandits. I parried a sword attack casually, frost spreading from the contact point to the guy's whole sword. As he stumbles back, I hit the contact point again and _shattered_ it.

I swipe Chamber at his chest, making him fly back into the woods and land harshly at the ground, his Aura already healing the superficial chest wound.

He wasn't the only bandit in the area, and I still have 3 more bombs to recover. I deflected a slash and duck under a swipe. There were three bandits surrounding me, the others were trying to surround me. I sighed deeply and stabbed my sword into the ground.

It was an Ice Shockwave. Once again, it was a variation of the original shockwave technique, so I didn't get any EXP for it, which still grinds my gears. Ice spread from my position and under them, icicles forming to hit a few bandits and sending them flying in the air. I pull out my sword immediately and change dusts, this time, into Acid.

Green flows into the blade and I _grin_.

I dash forward to the first bandit and activate Dust, corroding his Aura. He tried to block my attack, but it only ended with a broken sword and more lost Aura. I slam Chamber into his chest and make him fly to the woods too.

I parried a sword that was trying to get me from behind, and slashed at him with Dust as I spun to meet him, sending him off. A bandit jumped at me with his sword raised high, another below him running to meet me.

I met them faster.

In an instant, I was in front of them. **Flash Step** was a 10 Agility perk which let me move between short distances really, really quickly. It's good because people don't usually expect it, and seeing their reactions, they didn't either.

I slammed the flat of Chamber's blade at the jumping bandit and send him flying off to the woods while I let my overhead slash with Dust hit the bandit trying to rush me, making him crash harshly to the ground.

I saw a bandit shout to his allies hidden in the trees. Something about needing to take care of the Huntsman. A smile graces my face again.

This is fine.

Qrow lands beside me and looks around. "Looks like you were busy."

"They were small fry," My eyes were set on the woods, where more bandits were coming out. "Can you handle them for a bit? I haven't gotten the rest of the bombs yet," I take a peek at the walls and still see the three bombs strapped there. The bandits guarding the bombs had run off to join the rest of their crew.

Qrow didn't answer me. I glanced at him.

He was tense.

I don't know why he was tense, but he was. His face was set on a scowl and his hand tight on his sword. His pose was rigid as he looked over the bandit crew reorganizing themselves. He assumed a stance. "Go ahead, kiddo. I'll take care of these."

I hear a cry of _'It's him!'_ from inside the organizing bandit tribe. Qrow slammed into them like a freight train and was slashing them left and right, but I had no time to watch them flail around and try to contain an angry Qrow. I dashed towards the second bomb and threw it off into the forest too, followed by the third, then the fourth.

Just as the fourth reached far, far away. I heard a deep voice rumble on the grounds. "Qrow Branwen,"

My head snapped to Qrow's position. He was not winded at the slightest. If anything, he looked annoyed as he glared at the mountain of a man in front of him.

The man was at least 6 feet tall. He was wearing the same full black spandex thing that he other bandits had but instead of the typical sword, he had a large hammer beside him. He had lengthy black hair that reached up to his shoulders, and his face was twisted into a sneer. "Traitor."

"I never was a part of your stupid tribe," Qrow spat and engaged the enemy.

I saw the bandits try to get near the wall again and moved in to intercept. In a moment, I was right in front of them, Dust flourishing and Chamber slamming into the chest of a bandit and sending him flying.

I parry a sword swipe and counter with Chamber again, jabbing its non pointed end into the enemy's chest. The bandit stumbles back and I follow up with a hard kick to the face, hopefully knocking him out. I swipe at a bandit's chest and send him back, unnerving the rest of the advancing bandits.

I steady my breathing and face my side to them, Dust facing them with Chamber above me. I narrowed my eyes as I see them tensing up.

I moved.

There were only 7 conscious bandits left, but it was easy enough. I met the closest one in combat, Chamber meeting the bandit's sword and Dust _literally_ disarming the bandit, making him scream in pain.

I didn't have time to flinch because as soon as I disarmed him, I kick him off me and flip back, twirling my sword to get rid of any blood left on it.

The bandit was still screaming in pain and I watch the remaining bandits passively, taking note of their scowls, surprise, and fear.

I relish in their fear.

I dash forward again but this time, they were ready. The bandit blocked my initial swipe with Chamber and pulled back to block Dust. I give him a cocky smirk as I blurred away from him to a few meters back, readying Dust.

Dust glows a bright green and I disappear above them, Dust already slamming down to cause a Shockwave of Acid. The bandits' remaining Aura were affected and they noticed. A few bandits ran, causing the remaining to shout at them. "Cowards!" One of them spat. There were only 2 left. "Bah, it's just a kid! Let's just go!" With that, the two of them rushed me.

I smiled.

My sword style wasn't really something that is offensive. I had made this style back when I received a quest for it way before my apprenticeship with Qrow. It was a reactionary style, parrying and deflecting attacks before swooping in to jab my sword into their opening, then flipping out of reach before they could retaliate. A hit and run.

To these bandits, it was a good enough style. They ran towards me, but they were slow.

Way too slow.

Under a second, I was already beside one, Dust glowing a bright green. My sword fell down on his arm, making him meet the same fate as his screaming ally. The other bandit turned to me with fear, sword in his hand dropping as he saw the flat part of Chamber descending on his head, knocking him out.

The two drop like a sack of rocks, except the other sack of rocks was screaming, which a quick kick to the face saw to. Qrow was finishing up with his enemy, tying the mountain on a tree. He glanced at my direction, saw the two disarmed bandits, and the other knocked out and apparently decided that I don't need to be worried on since he kept tying up the bandits.

I stood guard as he rounded up the rest of the bandits. "Were there any more?"

"The rest ran away," I answered him, eyes scanning for movement. "I don't know if there're any more. I can't feel any movement in the trees," I paused. "Uncle Qrow, what the hell was that?"

"A bandit tribe," he grimaced. "The one I grew up with."

"A bandit tribe?" I echoed. "What would they achieve by attacking a village like this?"

He scoffed. "What motivation do they need? There's food and valuables, that's it."

Wait… "If you grew up at this tribe… you left, right?" He nodded at that. "So that means that mom grew up with them too?"

He nodded again. "Yeah, and last I heard, she was leading it herself," he pursed his lips. "I won't get any more info until one of these morons wake up."

"Are we bringing them back to Vale?" Qrow had round them up now. In total there were 11 bandits that got left behind, all unconscious from either Qrow's or my attacks.

"Yeah, we are." He glanced at the sky. "Bullhead should be arriving any second."

Suddenly, the ambience of the forest was broken by Beowolf's growl. Following that, there were growls that I could pick out. Ursa and more Beowolves. Fuck.

A bandit dropped in from nowhere. I tensed and Qrow tensed even more. This one wore the same clothes as the currently unconscious bandits except he was wearing a mask below his eyes.

He didn't have any weapons on him and ignored his allies. "She wishes to speak with you," He states. "At the clearing north of here."

Qrow made to intercept the bandit, but the bandit only dodged to another place closer to the wall. "There are several bombs strapped to the wall, hidden from sight," He continues softly. "If you are to ignore the call, then we will assume that you left and blow it up. That is the only warning we are willing to give."

I grimaced.

It was an ultimatum.

 **Quest Updated: Family Reunion**

 **Protect the Village**

 **Go to the Northern Clearing**

Well, I know what the quest is telling me to do. I glanced at Qrow and saw him glaring at the ninja, his grip on the sword tight. "Kiddo, don't listen to him. It's a bluff."

I shook my head. "We can't afford to believe that it's a bluff," I glanced around, seeing Beowolves already coming out of the forest, followed by Ursas. "I'll just have to make do. If anything, this'll be my first meeting with her, right?" I crack a smile.

His scowl turned to me and for once, he looked angry. "Kid, you don't know your own mom. She's _different_ from me. She's careless, she doesn't give a shit if you're weak. Just stay here, I'll deal with her, and you deal with the Grimm."

I sighed. "Qrow, we can't deal with unknowns," I whispered harshly. "If there _are_ bombs in there, we risk exposing the village to even more Grimm, and I bet that the stronger Grimm will start coming here when panic rises. I _have_ to go there, I don't care what happens."

He was silent for a while, the howls of the Beowolves and growls of the other, lesser Grimm continuing to grow and overtake the natural ambience of the forest. I can imagine the people inside the village are terrified right now.

 **Speech Check Success: 53/50**

 _Oh thank God._

"If you don't come back, I'll write _died to stupidity_ on your gravestone." Qrow warned me. I snorted.

"Shut up." Inwardly, I was glad I had his permission. I was also glad he knew where I would be if I _did_ die, since the way he made up my mother was that she was a dangerous woman.

He just sighed. "I'll take care of the Grimm. I never took Raven to be a bluffer, anyway." He grimaced as he looked over the wall. "Go."

I nodded and darted north, taking note that the ninja disappeared. _Where'd he go?_ But that didn't really matter that much now, did it? I kept running and passing the Grimm that littered the forest right now. A few turned to look at me and an Ursa tried to swipe at me, only to fail when I cut off its arm.

It was a small miracle that branches and bushes don't bother me too much, my Aura making small work of any impacts I may or may not have had with them. I take a peak at my Aura levels and grimace.

 **Aura: 168/280**

I don't know how long that'll last if I run into violent contact with a powerful Grimm or if my mother decided to not keep me around anymore.

 _If it's the second one, she's probably sick of sending child support checks._ I thought amusedly as I run through the forest. The Grimm's growls were a bit far away now, and I see the clearing a few hundred meters more.

I skid to a stop just before the clearing. The Grimm noise is all but an echo in the winds now that I'm too far away to be bothered by them. I was always nervous around this place, seeing that the Grimm were always keeping a bit of distance between this and them. I never knew what made them stay away, and had idly thought that if the thing keeping them away was safe, then maybe we could use it on our cities, too.

I shook my head to rid myself of the thoughts and observe the clearing. It was just a circular clearing, with the ground uneven and unpaved. The ground wasn't weathered and used much, so the Grimm didn't even come close to touching the ground here, and the trees were old without scratches.

But I couldn't see anyone here. No black hair, red eyes. No _anything_.

It made me more nervous.

 _What's this… bad feeling?_

 _Oh shit._

I lunged forward, barely dodging a sword strike to the head. I twist around and glare wide eyed at the attacker, only for my look of anger to drop to shock.

It was _her._

My mother.

 **Quest Updated: Family Reunion**

 **Protect the Village**

 **Completed: Go to the Northern Clearing**

It wasn't hard to recognize her. She had red eyes, obviously. Her black hair was long and cascaded behind her, looking similar to Yang. She wore a red long sleeved shirt along with a black skirt. Her shirt had a black stripe in the middle. She had these dark red vambrace things and she had several necklaces worn. Her boots were thigh-high, and she had a huge sheath strapped to her side, which I assume, was for the red sword she was currently wielding.

She looked awfully similar to Yang, except if she had my color palette… and choice of weapon.

"… You look like a shojou anime protagonist," I honestly commented. Surprisingly, there _was_ anime in this world, but instead of it being from a place called Japan, it was from Mistral, one of the four major kingdoms.

 _Major Kingdoms imply there are lesser ones. I need to find them someday._ I thought, distracted. I shook my head. _Focus._

I think I saw her expression twitch. "Impressive, you dodged my attack," So we're ignoring my comment now, are we?

"So I did," I kept my eyes on her blade, waiting for any sign of movement. Her position was deceptively relaxed, but I took notice of the fact that she didn't unhand her sword. "Is it an achievement or something?"

She chuckled. "For someone your age? Yes," She stalked closer to me, holding her sword close. "You are strong, stronger than your sister." That was a fact.

"She's getting stronger," I immediately answer. My hands were on Dust—I had sheathed it awhile ago—ready to unsheathe both weapons to engage. I'm not confident on my skill to hold her—Qrow said she was _very_ good, but I'll have to hope if she even does. "She's on Signal, she's bound to catch up."

"And yet, here you are. Already doing missions supposed to be taken by third year students on _Beacon_ ," She casually said. "No, she will _not_ catch up. You are too far ahead of her, and I think that you still have a long way to go."

The last thing was the only thing I agreed on. "She will. She'll make it to my skill level eventually."

"Oh?" Raven was close to me now, exactly right in front of me. She bent over to be right at my face. _Fucking Hell this is weird._ "You must trust your sister a lot."

"I trust her more than you do, _Mom._ "

She paused. "So you know me."

"I've known for quite a while now," I revealed. "Yang knows you too. She wants to find you, you know?"

"I am well aware of that," Raven has gone a bit further back, turning her back on me. _I don't know if she's that stupid, or she thinks that I have honor to not strike at her back… which isn't necessarily wrong._

"So why don't you talk to her, to _us_?" I pressed.

My danger sense flared, and I barely had time to bring out Dust and block her sword from cleaving me in half. If I was any lesser man, I would have paled. That was _fast_.

" _That_ ," She says, as she presses down harder on me, taking advantage of her height. Damn my smaller self. "Is exactly why."

Oh.

 _Ooooh._

"You want power," I hedged. "You came to me because you were impressed by my skill." I tried to press back on her sword, but she pulls back from me and lands a few meters away.

She only smiles thinly at me. "Who says I was impressed, _my son?_ " She was mocking me, I just knew. I narrowed my eyes at her.

"That's a very good question," I had pressed the button on Chamber again, turning it from sheathe to sword in a moment. "A question that I don't have an answer to right now."

 **Quest Updated: Family Reunion**

 **Protect the Village**

 **Impress Raven**

Well then.

I lunge at her with Chamber raised high. She parries the attack and quickly sidesteps from my thrust with Dust. She kicks me in the chest, making me grunt as I was sent a few feet back. I skid on my feet and duck under a slice from her katana thing, counter attacking with Dust to her stomach.

She blocks just in time and is sent back and away from me.

That exchange took _seconds_. "You're fast," She praised.

"Thank you," I grunted as I nursed my stomach. "You hit hard."

"But you rely too much on your weapon," She narrowed her eyes at that. "You've improved your sword skills, but not your unarmed. I don't see you integrating martial arts in your style."

Well, that was true. I probably need to bring it up to snuff. "I thought you didn't care for your children? Qrow seems to think that, anyway."

She scowls at the mention of Qrow. "That traitor has no right in judging what I do."

"Why do you keep calling him a traitor?" I asked despite knowing the answer.

Raven seems to know that I know it already, since she just smirks. "Stop stalling, Crimson."

Ah biscuits. At least I managed to recover a bit of Aura already.

She comes at me with the intent to kill, her sword flashing in the light of the moon. I cursed and parried with Chamber before going for a side slash with Dust, an effort that was deflected by Raven.

I jump back and quickly switch dusts inside Dust's revolving chamber. It, of course, landed on Ice. Cyan flooded my blade's once green parts and glowed an eerie color.

I smirked at her watching my sword and lunged. I slashed at her sides with Chamber, but it was parried. I immediately followed up with Dust to her chest, and she barely deflects it this time, and I got a hit on her shoulder.

She looks annoyed at the frost creeping up her shoulder, but was otherwise unharmed. I called out to her.

"Impressed yet, _Mom_?" God, I probably shouldn't taunt her while we're fighting to preserve my life, but I couldn't help it.

She dashes forward and presses on the attack. My swords and hers met between us, sparks dancing on the night. To any civilians, they would only see blurs as we met and clashed, and some Huntsmen would be having trouble watching us too as we fought. Dust deflected an attack on my side, and Chamber got a hit on her shoulder before she reciprocated with a nick on my ear.

She was, however, going slower. My tactic of trying to slow her down with Ice was sort of working, if not always effective. Whenever there was a reasonably ice chunk on any part of her body, she just flared her Aura and kept going. It was annoying as hell, but I had to make do.

I brought my swords down together on her, and she blocks it, holding me in place. I try to lift a leg to kick her, but she was faster and already kicked me off. She was on me in moments, and I had a little more than a second to bring up Dust to block it and try to take advantage of her opening on her sides with Chamber, which failed to wound her.

I frowned as we kept clashing over and over. There were no words exchanged between us in the duration of the battle, only fighting sword per sword. I had yet to use my semblance and she had yet to use her own. I parried an overhead slice and countered with a slice for her knees, which worked and made her hiss in pain as her Aura worked to reduce the damage done.

 _The danger I'm sensing… I'm sure it was hers… but there was something else._

In a fight like this, with me stewing in fear and admittedly, anger, the Grimm would have been attracted like flies and attacked despite my mother and I's combat prowess. There was something holding them back, and that something…

The ground rumbled, and I lost my footing. Unlike me, Raven had held firm, though she stopped attacking and started to look around. "What..?" She whispered, but I heard her.

The ground shook as a dark hand broke off from the earth below, a few meters away from them. Raven's red eyes widened as she witnessed another hand break free from the earth. I take a step back as the _thing_ used its arms to bring the rest of its body up, which, I bet, will forever disgust me to no end.

It was humanoid on the top part, with multiple bubble things on its back that occasionally wobbled and did a thing that looked like it would pop. It had 4 legs that were more like spikes that were put below the waist. It had claws and most importantly?

It was fucking huge.

Like seriously, it was at least two, _three_ Ravens stacked on top of each other. My eyes narrowed as it brought its arms back and _roared_ , making me prime target for some spittle that _was apparently acidic holy shit_. I barely dodged it, but thankfully, it didn't seem like it used that spit to attack, though that may be my optimistic side speaking while it was looking at its claws.

It swiped at the ground in front of it and _tore it up_ , the earth flew and it threw it down, shattering it into several fragments of rock.

My confidence was there too.

My eyes drifted to its head, then past that, and into the _nametag_ on top of it.

 **Vojk**

 **The Aberration**

 **Field Boss**

It was a named monster.

It was a _named monster._

It was a _named field boss._

I want to scream so much right now.

So much.

As it tore up the landscape in front of it, I glanced at Raven, who was observing the new addition to the clearing with a calculation look, one that dissolved as soon as she looked at me with a smirk.

Oh no.

Oh no no no no.

Oh _fuck_ no.

"Well, Crimson," She drawled, sheathing her sword. "I wasn't quite aware there was an Aberration in this clearing," Well she was honest about _that._ "But let me change the goal of our bout," There was a click as her sword was sheathed completely. "If you manage to kill that thing on your own, color me impressed. If you choose to run, I won't blame you, but the village nearby would certainly die."

There wasn't even a choice in that! Qrow already has his hands full with the Grimm that were attacking the village. If I left this thing alone, it could gather stronger Grimm to attack the village, and there's no telling what it might do after that.

I held my swords tight as I glared at her. She just casually jumps back behind the shrubs. "Good luck," But there wasn't really any luck wished in there.

I set my glare at the monster in front of me. There was no indication of a health bar, but it was still tearing up the ground in front of it. It would only be a matter of time before it sees me and decides I'm a better punching bag than the nature around it.

I decided to take the initiative. I darted to the left to hopefully avoid its anger issues and flank it on the side while it's distracted. It worked, since it didn't turn to my direction. I dashed forward and jumped, Dust in the air as I brought it down on one of its arms, tearing it off, black blood coming out.

 _Blood?_

The aberration stopped roaring and tearing off the ground. It stared at its fallen limb, probably thinking of how impossible a lowly human could even hope to tear off one of its arms. The limb started to dissolve into black matter, and I smirked, only to lose it when I saw why it stopped.

It was looking right at me.

It had its arm back.

 _WhatthefuckwhatthefuckwhatthefUCK—_

The arm I _just_ cut off came crashing down at my area, the ground tearing up as I pounced back. "What the _fuck_!?" I voiced it out this time, frustrated. I darted forward again and, with startling speed, got smashed with one of the thing's arms and sent flying back.

 **-39 HP**

Oooh fuck. That was quite a bit. And that was _fast._ Faster than it should be for its size.

I groaned as I rubbed my head. The Aberration—Vojk—was roaring again. It picked up _the fucking ground_ and raised it above its head, then threw it at me.

Naturally, I dodged.

The earth came crashing down behind me as I rolled forward. I stand up and brandished Dust as I charged forward, speed being more of a priority than defense at the moment. I needed to cut off another one of its arms again.

The monster was sending its arm at me again. Perfect. Unlike last time, when I was surprised, I quickly retaliated with a swipe from Chamber, sending the hand to the ground. I followed up with a slice from Dust starting from its shoulder before I was sent flying by its other arm.

 **-43 HP**

FFFF—I was sent crashing to the tree, head first. My Aura barely helped me tank those hits, and my Aura was taking a lot of hits now. I glance back quickly, and _gawked_.

The shoulder I cut off? It was _regenerating_. It was facing me with what I would guess a murderous look as the black blood I saw spilling out of its wounds started to weave around empty air to form an arm and a claw. It solidified, then it looked as if the arm was never lost.

A Grimm that sacrificed armor, for the sake of regenerating fluids…

I paled.

I took a peek at my status.

 **HP: 256/335**

 **Aura: 92/280**

My HP was regenerating a bit, thanks to Aura. But because of it, my Aura regeneration is slowed, and I wouldn't be getting any more any time soon. I grimaced.

" _Release!_ " I hissed the skill, and my sword slices the Aberration. 24-hit combo, and an aura consumption of 30 thanks to the maxed out Aura Manipulation skill. The three slices hit the head, chest, and cuts off all its legs.

To my horror, all of it _regenerates._

I summed it up with a single word. "Fuck."

 _How the fuck do I stop it from regenerating?_ I thought, desperate. The aberration threw another chunk of earth at me and roared again before charging. I darted to the left to dodge a smash from its arms and cut off its head, which, like before, it _regenerates._

How do I _kill_ this thing?!

It wasn't heavily armored, but any fatal wound would be regenerated near instantly. The monster itself didn't seem to care about any damage done to it, but kept looking at me and never…

Showed…

It's back…

I grinned.

It's back! Of course. It's back must be its weak spot, the bubble things. I could try to pop them all, but that would take quite a bit of speed. If I were to do it from the front, I need to penetrate it deep enough or tear through its chest quick enough to get to the other side.

I noticed, there was a small window of time when it was regenerating. A pause before it started attacking again, and it depends on the type of wound.

My grin stretched even further.

 _I can do this!_

I jogged forward, then it became a run, then a sprint. I darted between the chunks of rocks it threw at me and weaved in between its arms. I cut off both arms and then its head. I get a feeling that it would have roared, but it had no head to roar with. The black fluid started to creep up and weave around the invisible blueprints, so I made my attack quick.

" _Atom!"_ Instead of letting the attack loose like I did a year ago, I compressed all the targets right into the monster's chest.

It did as I expected; tore right through it and right behind it. I bet one of the bubbles popped, so I dashed through the hole, letting the black blood thing stick to me and then come out the other side. There were _more_ bubbles, but it was still regenerating, albeit more slowly as I popped a large segment of bubbles from my compressed Atom attack.

I grinned.

This time, I knew where to strike.

" _Eclipse!_ " I used both of my swords for this combo and jumped. I brought it down right in the middle of the aberration and tore its back apart, my swords cleanly slicing it from the middle and popping any of the bubble things and releasing the black liquid into the ground. When I finally touched the ground, I chanted with the last of my Aura.

" _Sword's Song!"_ It was a beautiful barrage of sword slashes. This combo was 18 hits, but my attack was spread out to hit more targets. It was my way of dealing with hordes of monsters, and in this case, it worked _perfectly._ The bubbles on its back popped, releasing more black liquid into the ground.

Then it fell, dead.

The body started to disintegrate, and so did the black blood on my clothes and the ground too. I panted in exhaustion as I buried Dust in the ground, using it more as a cane now that the battle was done. Raven had appeared at my side at one point, observing the battlefield.

"… Impressive," She repeats one of her earlier statements, except this one… I can hear _pride?_ I'm not sure, it might be the exhaustion in me talking.

"Can you… bring me to Qrow? He's on the village… I think… I can't… stand anymore…" And with that, I passed out on another named mission.

* * *

Raven caught her son before he fell to the ground, silently observing the boy.

He was skilled, that was for sure. He had an amazing mind of deduction and a semblance of strategy. He hadn't used his semblance for the fight, though that may be because Aerokinesis may not be that useful on a giant target. He was strong, and the best part?

He can still grow.

Raven would not deny that her son had made her proud here. She by herself would have trouble killing an Aberration on her own, and that was only after she graduated Beacon. Here was _her_ son, who did it without even attending Signal.

There was no doubt about it. He was strong, and if she were to bring him to her tribe, they would accept him too. Raven saw the glint on his eyes, the glint of the ability to do _anything_ if it meant either his or his family's survival. It would be a good addition to the tribe.

But…

He wanted her to bring him to _Qrow._

It was a waste of talent, of ability. She had no doubts that his Uncle would only dampen his growth, would only slow him down. If he was to go to Beacon, it would be an insult to her and _her son_.

Yes, she was acknowledging the fact that he was her son.

She pursed her lips. She _could_ just take him to her tribe, but that wouldn't make him happy now, would it? Even if she were to bring him there, he would be undoubtedly rebellious. He had a deep bond with his family, a family that she, admittedly, was not part of.

It stung a little, but Raven was not an emotional woman, and obviously, neither was her son. He seemed too calm instead of angry at her, so that was something. He wasn't angry at her, but he did demand answers. Her son was _odd_ , but then again, so were all the other powerful hunters. It may be a sign of greatness.

Or it's a sign that she's defending Crimson's oddity.

As she contemplated on what to do, she suddenly _felt_ that someone was coming. That feeling was very familiar, a feeling that she had no doubt of was Qrow.

She waited for her twin brother to appear in the clearing, and when he finally appeared, he looked _livid_.

She imagined what it must be like for him. His nephew, the one who he was supposed to be _"_ mentoring" was unconscious on the ground in front of her. The earth was torn up in chunks and there were rock fragments everywhere and earth was everywhere and trees torn down. She had no wounds, and the child was wounded and only barely healing with Aura.

Why, it must look as if Crimson had went to hell and back, and was still outclassed in every way possible. While it would amuse Raven to mess with her brother, she can't take credit from her son's performance on the fight against the Aberration.

"Raven, what the hell did you do—!" She cut him off immediately.

"I didn't do anything," She says curtly. " _He_ had a fight with an Aberration that was hidden in this area. It was quite big too, and a very powerful regeneration factor." Qrow paled as she described its strengths, then his eyes narrowed as he growled at her.

"And I bet you just stood back and let him fight it, didn't ya?" He spat. "That's your _kid!_ "

"And it's because of that reason that he _won._ "

Qrow paused, his expression frozen. "He.. _He won?_ Against an Aberration?"

Raven only smirked and nodded.

"You… You helped him right? You stepped in?"

Raven shook her head, and watched Qrow as he realized the extent of her child's ability.

"This… This is… wow. I knew he was good and could be better but this is…" Qrow seemed to be holding back information, which Raven frowned at. It seemed he knew that he was _good_ , but well…

This event will cement his ability to him, at least.

Raven, still frowning, nodded at Qrow. "I'm going to leave."

"Wait," Qrow stopped her. She stopped, just before she opened a portal with her sword. "Was he… good?"

Raven smiled softly. "He was impressive."

She was gone.

Qrow looked at his nephew, who had started to snore as his Aura took care of the superficial wounds and bruises that formed. Dust was stabbed into the ground next to him, and Chamber was beside him. Qrow shook his head and called in a Bullhead.

Taiyang was going to love this development.

* * *

When I woke up, it was bright.

There was a prompt in front of me.

I smiled, and closed my eyes again. I was happy.

 **Quest Complete: Family Reunion**

 **Completed: Protect the Village**

 **Completed: Impress Raven**

 **Completed: (Secret) Get Raven to acknowledge player as her son**

 **+16000 EXP**

 **\+ Ursa Mask**

I leveled up, too.

I smiled even more.

* * *

 _ **A/N**_

 _ **Hello,**_

 _ **The thing at the top part of this chapter is a review from a Guest account, which I found funny so I put it up there for archive purposes.**_

 _ **Anyway, when I was looking at the stats of my stories, I was amazed. 2000+ views, 100+ followers and 80+ favorites. Thank you! I can't say it enough, and I never imagined that I would get that much readers, much less in such a short time.**_

 _ **Reviewers, thank you too. Ya'll kept me motivated and the Guest review certainly provided me the funnies to keep writing.**_

 _ **Ah, this must be what authors enjoy. Getting praised for doing their hobby.**_

 _ **My ego is inflating, better pop it before it grows bigger**_

 _ **I don't think I'm that good of a writer, at best, I'll say I'm pretty average. Most of the writers at this site are amazing, really, capable of capturing the personalities of the characters and make new ones on the fly. Really, I feel small compared to them.**_

 _ **There it goes, crap. Sigh.**_

 _ **Aaand.. the other stuff.**_

 _ **Aberration was another monster taken from Starcraft 2. If you think about it, they have a bunch of scary ass monsters that would have been useless in Multiplayer, but terrifying in a real life situation, like the Nydus Worm, Aberration, Scourges… yeah.**_

 _ **I'm bound to get more monsters from it, but don't expect Zerg Hives to suddenly appear. I'm just going to use some of them to be Boss Monsters.**_

 _ **Also, you guys can request specials or stuff. Like, possible SPECIALs combination or different people in general or different specializations, etc. I don't really care, it stretches my writer's hands.**_

… _**I have writer's hands?**_

 _ **Anyway, I think that's about it.**_

 _ **Once again, Semi-Serious, don't take it too seriously,**_

 _ **Take this story with a grain of salt,**_

 _ **Reviews are appreciated, but not necessary**_


	5. Year 2

_A/Ns at the bottom of the chapter_

* * *

 _I don't own Roosterteeth, RWBY owns them._

 _Err, the other way around. You know what I mean._

 _I only own my OCs_

* * *

 _Wake up._

* * *

I woke up the next day, refreshed.

I was, once again, at Beacon. I could tell from the familiar lighting above and the same familiar bed. I've been here once or twice in my year with Qrow, so I could tell from simply those things alone.

… Nah, not really. At worst, it's an assumption, since the last time I was knocked out on a named quest, I woke up at Beacon and was given a few days of bed rest. I actually have no idea where I am, and am only hoping to be at Beacon so I can at least roam around a bit since I wasn't in too much of a serious danger.

I grunt as I try to sit up. Aura _may_ heal my wounds, and taking a peek at my stats confirmed that I was back on full health and Aura, but it doesn't take away most of the pain, like it didn't take away my scars. My stomach still hurt after Raven's kick and the Aberration's smashes. My back hurts quite the same, but thankfully, is mostly numbed by now.

Ah, that's right. I leveled up and got a reward from my last quest.

I glance around. The quest completion window was still up, which I dismissed quickly. A Grimm Mask—an Ursa's mask, from what the Quest Reward and what the prompts were telling me—was set on a desk beside me. I look around and see no one with me; not even Qrow or any nurse. The curtains were pulled back, but bright light was shining through, so I can assume that it's either the morning or the afternoon.

My weapons weren't anywhere in sight, nor was my combat outfit. I was wearing a white robe thing (I refuse to call it a dress) with no socks. I yawned, putting my hand in my mouth to try and stifle it, as I opened up my Status Window.

Hm…

I leveled up.

So right now, I had 17 more points to spend. Taking note of what Raven told me during our fight, I spent all of it right into Unarmed, bringing it from 18, to 35. Knowledge flows to my head, and I take a deep breath to sort it all out. That _always_ happens when I raise my skills. It's such an abrupt rise of skill that the knowledge, instead of being gathered slowly, just breaks into my brain and digs in. It's kind of disorienting, but not harmful, thankfully.

Now I look at the Ursa Mask.

The prompts next to it told me enough about it gamewise.

 **RANK: RARE (UNIQUE) Ursa Mask**

 **An Ursa's mask that was torn right off it's face during a fight. Yikes.**

 **+1 STRENGTH when worn**

 **+Intimidation factor, depends on player's skill and power levels against the target's (Area of Effect range: 20 meters)**

 **+Concealed identity**

 **+?**

Well that's good. Intimidation is a decent skill, I suppose. People do stupid things when they're scared of someone. The +1 Strength, meanwhile, would put my strength to technically 10. I _know_ that boosted SPECIALs are weaker than natural ones, but it would still be a great help. I would still have A 10 and S 8 + 2, so it's a good piece of equipment either way. There's also the Concealed Identity addition, which comes with all masks that take up half the face, so it could also be useful for infiltration missions.

The last one, though…

 **+?**

I tried to press it, but no prompts came up. I tried to will a prompt for it to appear, nothing happened.

It's an enigma, or at least, until I put the mask on.

Hesitantly, I take the mask off the desk.

And

I

Put

It

On

 _Screams._

 _Darkness._

 _Death._

 _ **ERROR ERROR ERROR**_

 _I was somewhere I didn't recognize. It was darkdarkdark—red skies, bloody ground._

 _Black pools everywhere—Grimm spawning out of nowhere._

 _ **ERROR ERROR ERROR**_

 _Summer stabbed by dark, steel stakes, silver eyes leaking blood._

 _Ruby torn to shreds by Beowolves, eyes lifeless as she falls back._

 _Yang torn apart by Nevermore as they swarm her._

 _Vale crashing down when a swarm of Nydus Worms destabilized the underground portion of it._

 _ **GAME OVERLOAD, RESET**_

 _whEREAMIWHEREAMIWHEREAMI—_

 _ **RESET COMPLETE**_

And then it was gone. I blinked, shaking my head.

 _The fuck was that?_

The irrational amount of fear I suddenly had, the pain and the terror that spawned right out of nowhere and set into my heart.

It was gone just as quickly as it came. The mask was still on my face. I checked the prompts on the mask, it was still the same, but the **+?** part disappeared.

 _Odd._

Was that part a warning for the weird vision thing I had? Was it a premonition, or a threat?

Or was it just a cursed mask thing that should have never been worn?

While it isn't affecting me now, there _was_ still a hint of fear in my heart. A hint of fear that keeps growing whenever I feel weak and powerless.

Whenever I'm reminded that the Grimm aren't as mindless as they seem.

I take a deep, shaky breath. _Calm. Calm. Calm._

That's never going to happen.

Never.

The Ursa Mask I just donned gave me those visions, those premonitions. But now they've stopped, they're gone.

They won't hurt me or anyone anymore.

I won't stop using the mask just because of a few pesky dream vision things, the gains overweigh the cons.

Seeing those visions, however…

It woke me up.

I trained to be strong. I leveled up to kill strong monsters and experience fun on the world.

But I'm reminded by the fact that Grimm are still a threat to civilians, to people—to my family.

It's a dark reminder, but it woke me up.

Grimm are not animals.

They're monsters.

I do another shaky sigh. "Damn… should have expected a mindfuck from a Grimm mask."

And I'll be damned if I let monsters overrun my home.

* * *

 _The year after, 15 years old_

* * *

" _Got anything?_ " Came the voice of my uncle from my earpiece on the right that's wirelessly connected to my _wonderful piece of technology known as the_ scroll.

"No," I replied, my eyes straining to see anything on the dark. "I _wouldn't_ get anything. You know my Perception sucks."

" _I know,"_ there was a pause. " _I'm just asking."_

"Right," I drawled. I was laying stomach down on top of a warehouse with a pair of binoculars watching a pair of unnamed guards patrol around a fenced area. There was a lead on a crime syndicate here that apparently garnered the attention of the headmaster of Beacon himself. I don't know much of the details, but apparently they had something awfully dangerous stored up, and Qrow and I were to find out what it is.

Well, only Qrow was supposed to be. I was actually tasked to stay on Beacon while he does recon, but when he explained his mission to me, I got a named quest for it so I had to tag along.

 **Quest Updated: The Apple of Eden**

 **Gather information on the M32x syndicate**

M32x was the name of their syndicate. I have no idea what it's supposed to mean, only secret to those inside the organization on the first place. Intel shared by Qrow showed a numerous amount of low huntsmen level members in the criminal hierarchy, so that's also one of the reasons he was sent to gather information.

 _Why do they need low level rogue huntsmen and women in their little group?_

I pursed my lips as I watched the guards disappear inside around a corner. I was positioned in front of the area, so I could work as a distraction while Qrow goes in and peaks at the documents and any other unmentionables inside their base.

Frankly, I could do the same, but it was established that between the two of us, I had the better crowd control techniques, so I could handle most of the enemies that come at me.

I take a peak at my stats again.

 **Crimson Branwen (LV. 16)**

 **Health: 410**

 **Aura: 310**

 **Semblance: Aerokinesis**

 **Experience: 3750/38000**

 **S – 8 + 2**

 **P – 3**

 **E – 5 + 2**

 **C – 2**

 **I – 7**

 **A – 10**

 **L – 5**

 **Skills**

 **Speech (Charisma): 57**

 **Barter (Charisma): 33**

 **Bladed Melee (Agility): 100**

 **Blunt Melee (Strength): 49**

 **Unarmed (Endurance): 90**

 **Small Guns (Agility): 25**

 **Big Guns (Strength): 20**

 **Lockpick (Perception): 10**

 **Repair (Intelligence): 18**

 **Smith (Intelligence): 18**

 **Computers (Intelligence): 18**

 **Sneak (Agility): 62**

 **Medicine (Intelligence): 18**

 **Aura Manipulation (Intelligence): 100**

 **Available Points: 0**

 **Traits []**

Huh, now that I think about it, I'm probably overspecialized to combat right now. I'm practically useless to hacking and smithing and other works, but it should be fine.

In the past year, I got a few more levels and two more traits: Educated and Sensor. Educated gave me 3 extra skill points per level up, so instead of 17, I got 20 after level 14, and all the points I got were promptly dumped into Unarmed, which helped a bunch when I mixed Unarmed and Bladed Mastery together.

The enemies that no longer stand in my way… I would smirk, but it would look weird. The fact that no one would see it is also a plus.

Sensor gave me an instinctual view around myself, like I had an extra bunch of eyes. I could _feel_ better, so to speak, and it's really accurate but has a small range. That was only one part of it, however. With a certain formula (1.5*Perception*auraManipulation, which I found out after a bit of digging), I could see how much distance I have in sensing people with this trait. My current distance is 450 meters, which is decent enough, I guess.

I gained a few points in Speech and Sneak again and a single point in Barter. I could probably use some skill points at Lockpick, because breaking a lock is not very inconspicuous and may lead to unhealthy encounters during a mission. I was mainly a combat type build instead of utility and stealth, which needs to be fixed if I want an assassin role along my DPS role.

Nevertheless, I shook my head to clear it and focus on my objective. It was a fenced off part of the port in Vale. Steel fences lined the edges, and a few ships were anchored. There was no one here except a few guards, and if Qrow's information was right, the M32x syndicate. Frankly, I just want to finish the quest quick because I want EXP. I don't get any for knocking people unconscious, I have to kill something to get EXP.

I learned that the hard way when I killed a few criminals in the past year.

It was not a pretty sight, nor was it a pretty day for me. I felt kind of bad that I killed them, but I reminded myself that they were criminals, rapists, murderers, and thieves. It barely helped, but I moved on.

Anyway, there was a warehouse within the fenced area. Qrow was currently inside the area and is exploring the last of the ships, and if the ships were empty, I was clear to infiltrate the warehouse, in which he'll be joining me after. It was supposed to be an easy get in then out mission, but with it being a Named Quest and my previous experience of them, I am seriously doubting that description.

The earpiece crackled. " _All clear,"_ Qrow reported. " _Mission is a go."_

I snorted. "That line is so cliché."

Qrow sighed in the line. I can imagine him pinching his nose in annoyance. " _Just go."_

I dropped down from the warehouse and landed deftly on my feet. I dashed forward, careful to avoid any lights and guards, quickly approaching the metal fence. I sneak a glance towards my left and right as I sprint. I tense my legs as I get closer, bend down and jump.

I manage to jump over with a flip, landing with a muffled crouch and just as quickly stood up and began to dash towards a few crates.

"… think that any thugs'll come here?" I duck behind a bunch of crates as I wait for the guards to pass by, unintentionally eavesdropping into their conversation as I lied in wait. "Like, you think any raids will come? It gets pretty boring here."

"Why would you want to get in on the action?" The other thug asked incredulously. "For real, I don't wanna die to a bunch of overzealous terrorists or criminals. I just came here for a paying job, dude."

Their conversation trailed off as they went further away. Unless they can suppress their Aura to a very tiny amount that they blended in with nature itself, they're not there anymore. I dart off from behind the crates and continue on my dash to the warehouse.

I stopped just a few meters before the gray walls of the building. There was a metal door to my left, and there was a bigger metal shutter that was probably used to drive in a few trucks or so, but I can't really tell. The door to my left probably leads to it, but there wasn't anyone inside that could open it.

There _was_ however, another patrol coming nearby. If I have any luck, they might have the key inside the warehouse, probably to switch with the other Aura signatures I can sense inside..

I frowned.

There were a few big Aura signatures, which I expected from Qrow's intel, which confirms the fact that there were multiple huntsman tier enemies inside, no matter how low. A low level huntsman is good enough that several thugs would have a hard time beating one, and multiple low level huntsmen could theoretically take down a higher tiered one, with enough teamwork and collective power, that is.

The problem was, there was a lot more than what the intel provided. So it probably wasn't that it was wrong, only that it was outdated.

I pursed my lips as I test the door—oh. It wasn't locked. I grimaced as the patrol came closer, falling flat on my stomach as the patrol came closer.

"… had chicken as dinner yesterday. Taking overtime today, but I hope leftovers are good."

"At least _you_ get to eat chicken."

"You'll get paid after your first month."

"I guess I'll expect it in a few days, then."

The patrol passed by without a hitch and I sighed in relief. I pushed the steel door open again and stretched out my senses (I actually don't, I just focus on what I already have since my secondary ability on Sensor only works when I actually put focus on it) and tried to sense any thugs in the immediate vicinity. There weren't, they were all on a lower level.

"Qrow," I called. There was a crackle as he answered me.

" _I'm here. Anything of note?"_

"Multiple low-tier huntsman signatures below warehouse. Much more than what the intelligence provided. Where are you?" I whispered as I closed the steel door quietly again. It was well lit inside, the lights above providing enough lighting for the entrance. The loading area, as I expected, was parked with a few trucks and forklifts. There was a ramp to lead above which had an elevator and a stairway. There were more than a few crates stacked around the place, probably unloaded goods.

" _Closing in on warehouse. I'm close. Go in and scout out the area, I'll follow."_ There was a click, and he was silent again. I took a deep breath and cautiously walked towards the elevator and the stairway. I focused on my Sensor trait again and tried to sense for anyone below the elevators. There were a few thugs roaming the halls, so the elevator was a no go.

Sigh.

I paused and looked around.

 _Huh, where do they actually store these things? This is a warehouse, there should be a storage room somewhere._

I took a moment to think about it.

I shrugged. It's not _that_ important, what's important is scouting out the other people that joined the party, so I immediately took the stairs and started sliding down on the handles.

I like to think that it's because it would make less sound than walking, but really, it's just because I find it fun, even if my face doesn't show it, either because I'm wearing a mask or because I don't really express myself much.

I land a floor down, which seems to be the only way the stairs go down to. Why would they need an elevator for a single floor? Seems odd, since there aren't any more stairs leading downwards. Odd.

With Silent Steps, I don't really need to muffle my steps, so I jumped down, no sounds coming out of the event. I almost sighed. My trait system is unfair sometimes.

I was in a small corridor thing. Taking a look at the walls, there were no secret elevators or secret rooms, in fact, the only thing that was here were the stairs to go up. I frowned as I focused on my Sensing again, trying to feel for any signatures upstairs.

Other than Qrow, there was no one, because unless they were dedicated to suppressing their Aura, then our mission's already compromised.

My earpiece crackled as Qrow called in again. " _I'm staying up here to guard. You go on and search the place, I'm going silent for a bit,"_ The line goes dead.

Alright then. Sometimes, I hate Qrow for making me do his work, but I wouldn't mind if it were to kill things.

Unfortunately, people need due process so I can't just kill people willy nilly, because other people would get mad and I'd be labeled a mass murderer. Ah, politics.

… or is it just Law? Eugh, whatever.

Thinking about it, he seemed _off_ in the call. As if he wasn't himself. His way of talking was kind of detached. Wonder if he finally got enough liquor to get himself tipsy. It was probably that.

Other than the weird corridor thing here, there was also, obviously, a doorway leading to the bigger parts of the underground complex. I don't sense any Aura signatures outside, so I step out and observe.

It was a single path forward, with several doors to the side of the hallway. It was labeled, thankfully. The closest ones to me were labeled with names, so this may be a living quarters area.

 _Why do you need to live below a warehouse?_

I stalked forward, hand on Dust, ready to unsheathe and attack. My boots make no sound on my footfalls, and I watch the halls for any sudden movements. The paintings on the walls were abstract; no faces, it was as if the artist decided to throw his paintbrush around with several colors and said it was art.

Modern art confuses me, art in general confuses me. I don't dabble in it for a reason.

It was a fairly decorated place all things considered. The floor was carpeted red, the walls painted with a eerie gold, the lighting was also good with several fluorescent lights lining the ceiling. Hell, the inside of this underground complex looks like it was taken from an office or something then had a rich person paint it gold and red.

It was weird. Unnatural.

Finally, there was a commons room, at least, what I hoped was a commons room. There was a flat screen TV mounted on a wall, with a coffee table and a couch in front of it respectively. Like the rest of the underground area, it was colored red and gold with the exception of the TV, which was black.

The lighting for this room was a chandelier. It was still since the ground wasn't shaking and there weren't any winds down here. There was a coat rack at one corner and a pile of t-shirts at another.

I'm not going to question the last one.

From here, there were 2 more paths; forward or to the left. I go left and apparently hit the jackpot.

 _R & D_

Research and Development, it was labeled. Double doors right in the end of the corridor with R & D on the plate next to it. My senses don't tell me of any presences behind the door, so I open it—it was unlocked.

 _It was unlocked_.

Why was it unlocked?

This time, I stop to _actually_ focus my senses to its effective range. There weren't any more Aura Signatures down the basement. The thugs I sensed were gone, and the only ones left were—

 _CRASH!_

My eyes widened as I jumped back to avoid a fist from a raven haired girl that was _very_ scantily dressed. The tables were scattered and the ground cratered. Papers scattered and glass shattered when she punched.

 _Jesus fucking Christ!_

She stood up, and I idly note that she was wearing only a bra and really short shorts. She had brown skin and dark brown eyes. She saw me looking and winked, before settling into a stance.

"Hey there!" She called out cheerfully. "Trespassers aren't allowed here, don't you know?"

I stayed silent, choosing to unsheathe Dust and settle into my own stance. I don't need to use Chamber yet; I have a feeling that there's—

" _Yar har har!_ " Oh god, it was a pirate. "We're s'posed to tell that to 'im _before_ we skewer 'im!"

Another person came up from behind her. It was a _legit_ pirate, wearing a blue coat with sleeves reaching up to his wrists, leading to black rubber gloves. The ends of his coat was lined with gold designs, and he wasn't wearing an undershirt. He wore black pants and black boots. He had a beard, black eyes, and the typical pirate captain hat with a skull crossed with bones. He had a scabbard strapped to his side, which probably housed a cutlass.

It was a legitimate pirate. What the fuck.

There was a disturbance beside them, and a ninja in the _typical ninja garb_ was there. Now, if I were any slower than what I am now, I would've only seen the blur. But what I really saw was him running top speed to their sides then stopping suddenly, which screams out 'massive agility and control' if anything, marking his spot as the group's ninja.

Looks like I need Chamber for this. I barely stop a sigh from coming out of my mouth as I press a button on Chamber's side. The three were low leveled huntsmen, but there weren't any other signatures coming from anywhere. Upstairs, Qrow was moving around disoriented.

I can't speak to him while I'm occupied. I have to take care of these idiots.

They were bickering right now. Something about introducing themselves to their enemy? It… doesn't really look like they're some kind of professional criminals. It's more like a bunch of friends that decided to come together to antagonize someone, that someone being me.

My eyes flicked to the ninja on the pirate's right, seeing him shrug and look away listlessly as the two argued.

"We don't _need_ a shitty entry speech!"

"What?! 'Course we do! We hav' to make 'em run scared!" The pirate posed. "Then we swoop in to take the kill!"

" _Not before they swoop in first, you dumb ass perverted pirate!"_ The girl screamed at him exasperatedly.

The ninja just puts a hand behind his head and scratches.

My eyes behind my mask twitch.

These guys were part of M32x?

I was ready to just bop them on the head with Chamber and Dust as I argued, but when I did, the ninja had intercepted me mid way with a katana, him straining to stop me from slicing both their necks off.

Well, it wouldn't slice off their necks, but it would send them flying back and do major damage to their Aura, at least. At most, they'll be unconscious. They're huntsmen; they could take it.

The ninja gasps as he has to break off from our engagement to jump back. I'm stronger than him due to my base Strength and the boosts it has, I'm also _faster_ , so he won't be able to keep up with me.

It was nice to see a fellow swordsman, at least…

Wait a fucking minute.

Is that ninja using his katana from his _crotch_?!

He _was using it from his crotch._ The katana was in between his legs and he was using it as a weapon. I have _no_ idea what possessed the dude behind the costume to even _wield_ it that way, and it's even _more_ impressive that he managed to parry my attack!

What the actual fuck is with this group of lunatics?

The weirdest thing was he actually looked _serious_ while doing it. I had an incredulous expression set on my face as I stared at the three people in front of me, the two having stopped arguing when the ninja intercepted me.

"That was fast," The woman admitted. My eyes flicked to her big chest (I am a healthy young male) then to the pirate, who was unsheathing his cutlass. "I forgot that we were on a fight for a second."

"Aye, lassie," The pirate agreed as he fully drew his cutlass and pointed it at me. "How 'bout we _postpone_ this argument for sometime else, eh?"

"Right."

And then they dashed for me. Well, the ninja and the brute girl did, but the pirate stayed back, yelling "Aye!" as he glowed golden. His friends glowed the same color, and suddenly, they were way faster.

I sidestep a punch from the girl and parry a slash from the ninja who was _still_ using his crotch to wield it. I grunt in annoyance and kick the ninja, sending him flying back, then use Dust to try and cut the girl in the stomach. It succeeds and she was sent back. I followed up with an overhead slash, which she barely dodges.

She sends a left hook towards me and I redirected it from its intended target then knee her in the stomach. I quickly chained with a diagonal swipe, making her tumble back, then slash horizontally and made her yelp as she was sent flying back, her aura soaking up the damage.

She landed and messed up a few tables, but I didn't have time to savor in my victory as the ninja came in to attack. I held his sword in place, noting that he was stronger than before as he glowed yellow. I deduced that the pirate was a support type of huntsman. It wasn't unheard of—but it wasn't that common either. Grimacing, I slashed at his chest with Chamber, making the ninja grunt as the edges were barely softened by his Aura, making him stumble back.

I strike down at his katana, making it fall to the ground from the attack and kick him in the chest, making him fly back from his sword. The ninja's eyes widened and tries to run for his sword, but I was in front of him first.

I slash diagonally then spin to slash him horizontally, which sends him flying back. I was behind him in seconds, and kick him at the back to stop the momentum, making the ninja gasp in pain. I was going to kick him in the head to knock him unconscious, but the woman got back up and _punched._

 **-30 HP**

 **380/410**

FFFFFF— Never gonna lose sight of their heavy hitter again.

As I unburied myself from the wall, my eyes widened as I immediately roll down to avoid the follow up punch which decimated the wall behind me. I slash upwards and cut her on the stomach, making her jump back to avoid another follow up.

While the pirate tends to the ninja, I face off against the woman. She had this pissed off look in her eyes, one that I didn't return.

"You're gonna pay for that," She promised.

I don't intend to let her keep that promise.

I was in front of her immediately, Dust and Chamber already in motion. Chamber slashes at her cranium, repelled by her Aura but still successful, Dust was thrusting towards her chest, glowing green as it corroded her Aura, dropping it to lower levels.

She jumped back but I followed and got behind her, kicking her in the back of her head and sending her tumbling down to her face. I raise my sword and stab down, but she rolls to the side to avoid it.

She kicks up, making me jump to avoid it. She gains a grin on her face and charges forward. I take my chance to slash down on her.

She twitches, and the sword cuts the string that was holding her bra together.

Well then. Tits. _Real_ naked tits.

I don't doubt that I stared for a few moments, but I'm not some sort of pervert to just stop and drool while a fight is happening. I kick her in the side, making her spit up… well, spit, and knock her down with the pommel of Dust, _finally_ knocking her unconscious.

 _Power type down._

The ninja is quick to engage next, though it's obvious that he's tired and winded from our earlier fight. He's _still_ using his crotch to wield, and I _still_ have no idea why he is doing it. I dash forward and he meets Dust, but Chamber is already on a thrust towards his chest, making him stumble back and lose balance. I take advantage of it and swipe at him with Dust, making the ninja yelp as I cut him from shoulder to hip, him finally losing his Aura.

I swoop in, roundhouse him in the head, making him stumble to the side, then kick him on the balls. I wouldn't normally do that, since I know how much it fucking hurts to get hit at the balls, but it was annoying the ever loving crap out of me on how he was using it to use his sword.

He grabs his nuts, his sword finally dropping from between his legs. He kneels and folds over to lie in a fetal position, but I don't let him stay awake. I kick him _extra_ hard to knock him out. I'm not feeling generous to crotch ninjas today.

With the two dealt with, I set my gaze on the last one in the room. It was the pirate, of course. He was glaring at me angrily while he held his cutlass to me.

"Ye may have defeated my mates, but I ain't goin' to drop down like a fly!"

He glows gold and rushes forward to me. It was almost kind of pathetic, actually. He was slower than his ninja friend—I redirected his cutlass with Dust and slash with Chamber, bringing down his Aura level— he was weaker than his brutish girl friend—I kick him in the chest and send him back before bearing down on him with both swords.

But most importantly?

" _Eclipse,"_ I whispered. The swords tear through his Aura like paper and send him flying back, wounded and bruised, but not bleeding thanks to his Aura.

He was less skilled than me.

The pirate groaned as he tried to regain his bearings, but I was in front of him, kicking his face in the wall and knocking the man unconscious.

This was really easy. Easier than the other named missions, actually. I sighed and gathered the three stooges to one wall to line them up near each other. I look for some rope in the room and lo and behold, there was none.

I sighed again. Looks like I'm just hoping that they stay asleep here.

… Now that I think about it, whenever I go on these types of quests, I leave a lot of things up to chance, don't I? I hoped to _not_ get kidnapped by Raven, I hoped to get reached in time during the Nydus Worm incident, and right now, I'm hoping they _don't_ wake up.

Huh. I guess my luck is good on these types of things? I don't know. I don't want to find out and ruin all of it, so I'm just going to roll with it, I guess.

I focus on my senses again. I sense at least 2 more energy sources up above, near Qrow. He must be fighting them or something. I immediately go through the commons room then to the stairway again, ignoring the other path since the real world isn't a video game and I don't need to explore every nook and cranny on this whole freakin' warehouse.

When I burst through the doorway to the warehouse, I noticed two things.

One, the ceiling was riddled with holes, moonlight streaming in to provide lighting inside other than the already existing ones. Second, there were two girls in front of me.

One had light brown hair with equally brown eyes and light skin. She was wearing a white sleeveless blouse with some light blue ribbon things on her chest, with an equally blue line running down the middle of it. She had a black belt with an easily recognizable _e_ symbol and wore a blue skirt with white stockings that reached up to her thighs and black boots. Her brown hair was tied to a ponytail with an also easily recognizable _e_ symbol. Her weapons, as far as I could see, were two black gloves that stretched to her elbows. Though gloves was a loose term, since it actually was kind of metallic looking and was rectangular.

The other was a red haired fox faunus girl. She had fox ears on top of her head, which led to my discovery of her being a faunus (obviously). She was wearing a red sleeveless vest over a white long sleeved shirt, in which the sleeves reached up to her elbows though the ends looked folded. She was wearing tight black pants and had a red fox tail with a white tip. From what I can see, she had a two handed sword sheathed behind her back. She was folding her arms and looking at me with a cocky expression, and I can see the handle of her sword from behind her. The symbol was a fox around a blue sphere. An also easily recognizable symbol.

 _If,_ of course, _if,_ you lived from my world before you came here.

In my incredulity and surprise, I let it blurt out. "The fuck? Explorer and Firefox?"

They both have different responses.

"E-eh? How did you know my last name?"

"Yep! That's me, and I'm going to kick your ass!"

I took a deep breath.

I was fighting two girls that were basically personified internet browsers.

I was fighting personified internet browsers.

I want to bash my face in. I want to destroy a wall with my head.

Is the world just out to mock me today? Did I do something wrong to be constantly reminded of my previous world that even _memes_ would come to this just to be fought?

Jesus fucking Christ on a bike.

I took a deep breath to say my words.

"Move aside," I emotionlessly intone. "I have no quarrel with either of you."

"Why are you trying to sound old and composed?" Asked the fiery fox.

No, I'm not going to call her Firefox. Fuck no. Never.

"Because I am," My eyes twitched behind the mask. "If you don't move aside, I will be forced to engage you both in combat."

I wasn't worried in losing to these two power-wise. I can tell that I have more Aura than they do even right now, and I doubt that they would give me any trouble skill wise. I was more surprised than anything, but the surprise was quickly going down as I keep watching them, my hands on both Chamber and Dust, both unsheathed and ready for battle.

The fox girl snorted. "I doubt you can do anything with those stupid swords of yours," She puffed up and took out her two handed sword. It was a big sword, easily dwarfing my own as she brought it to the light. It had a dark red blade with a black handle. Her symbol—the fox around the blue globe—was right at the middle of the guard. "I'll beat you in a minute!"

"U-um, I don't think you should brag in a fight," The other girl— _I'm not calling her Explorer either! No!—_ "We don't know h-his capabilities."

The fox girl just scoffed. "Who _cares?_ He doesn't even look any older than us. I don't know why that old man needed to call us Signal students to protect his cargo stuff if this is all the problem is."

Wow, this girl has an ego the size of a Goliath. It may serve well for me to pop her ego in a minute.

Wait, Signal students? What the hell?

"I-it's probably because of criminals, like the o-one you're talking to now," the brown haired girl shyly snarked.

It was an odd combination, stuttering and speaking with a soft voice while she sent a jab to her friend. It wasn't anything that would've popped into my head, but it worked as the fox girl scrunched up her face and sighed.

"Yeah, yeah. Whatever," The fox girl just glares at me and puffs up, propping her two handed sword next to her and putting a closed fist to her flat chest. "Listen up, criminal! My name's Mozilla Firefox, and this is my friend, Interna Explorer. We're here to foil your diabolical plans and save the day!"

My eyes twitched. Interna Explorer and Mozilla Firefox.

What the actual fuck?

I decided to throw my coin in the craziness. "Hm… Are you aware of anyone named Netscape?"

Interna blinked. "You know my mom?"

I bashed my head to a wall. Loudly.

"H-hey! Don't knock yourself out! We haven't even fought yet!" Mozilla suddenly freaks out. "Don't run from our fight, coward!"

"I'm not running," I grunted. "I just realized something important and bashing my head in was a good way to remember the whole story." Not the truth, but I would probably be marked insane if I actually said my true reasons.

I take a deep breath and recompose myself. Fine, they were browser incarnates, but that doesn't change my job here. I could fish more information out from them. Probably.

"You are Signal Academy students?" I inquired, voice level and earlier outburst forgotten. "I was not aware that Signal students could take missions."

"We aren't, but I'm glad I helped out that old man. Now I get to stop a criminal!" Mozilla grinned at me.

I sighed. "I am not a criminal," I slowly grind out. "I am a huntsman's apprentice, and this is a mission we are _currently_ taking. Either you are in the wrong building, or you got conned by the target's boss."

"Huh?" Mozilla seems honestly confused. "A huntsman's apprentice?"

"I-it's when someone gets personally taught by a huntsman, Mozzi." Interna informed her friend. She narrowed her eyes at me. "But h-he's alone in here, there wasn't anyone else here."

What? Qrow should have been here. Where did he go? Actually, why didn't he tell these kids off?

I tried to look for him within my range but…

I couldn't find him.

Worry kicking in, I neglected her question and narrowed my eyes. I try to pinpoint where he could be, but I'm not sensing anything from here. He may be out of my range, or he may be suppressed to low levels. The second one is hard to do, and the first one is unlikely.

I hope it's the first one.

I can't call Qrow yet, since these two students were in front of me and—Holy shit!

I cross Dust and Chamber to hold the great sword in place. Mozilla was suddenly in front of me and bearing down her sword on me with a scowl on her face. "Trying to trick us like that, you're scum!"

Trick what?

I duck underneath her and let the great sword fly past. I hit her in the back with the pommel, making her stumble past forward. I duck underneath a light blue ray, and pause to look at the offender.

It was the Explorer girl. She was holding her arms forward and shooting rays out from the rectangular things on her arms. The sparks around the rays says its lightning, so she's shooting lightning from her hands.

Neat trick, but I've seen better.

I dart forward, making her eyes widened as I basically disappeared into a blur. I was in front of her, Dust raised and ready to swipe down to destroy her Aura. Her eyes widened.

It was like slow motion as I descended upon her to hit… wait.

It was actually slow motion.

I was being slowed down.

The Interna girl was straining as her eyes glowed a light green.

"Alright, Interna!" Mozilla cheered. "Now keep him slowed while I hit him hard!"

I can't see her, but I don't want to get hit by a sword. I flared my aura, making the barrier around me shatter and making Interna yelp as I swipe down in normal speeds. She stumbled back and shot another barrage of electricity towards me, which I all deflected or dodged.

I was in melee now. She sent a weak punch towards me, but I redirected it, kicked her in the stomach, and sliced her diagonally.

All in quick succession.

She was sent flying back, Aura depleted and completely unconscious. I turn around to Mozilla, who had been charging at me and watched with wide eyes while I demolished her friend.

Uh, that sounded wrong. Whatever.

"You bastard!" She roared, picking up her weapon and charging at me. Her sword was steaming, and I did not want to find out why it was so.

I jumped to the left as she brought it down on my position, and fire spread around the immediate vicinity. So she has a fire related semblance, good to know.

Her red eyes angrily trailed me as I jumped, her sword still steaming. She brought it down diagonally, but it was too slow to do any real damage to me. I simply moved back, and ducked under a second swing.

It was kind of sad really. I realized exactly _why_ I wanted to leave home for better training. It was like taking candy from a baby, though in this case, the baby had weird vambrace-weapon things and a great sword.

I need to end this.

I used Chamber to hold her in place, making her eyes widen. I use Dust to cut her in her stomach, depleting a bit of her Aura.

Dust glows green as I let my Aura run through it. "You have a two choices," I tell her softly. "Wake up in the hospital tomorrow, or run away with your friend."

"Shut _up!_ " Mozilla shouted and brought her great sword up to me. She was running full speed, I could tell. She was pushing herself here more than I am.

Dust is slowly corroding her Aura as fire spreads from our contact point. I kick her in the stomach and follow up with a quick thrust from Dust, sending her back, Aura depleted.

She wasn't unconscious yet. She was tired, unable to wield her weapon and at the ground. I was over her and staring down, my Intimidation probably working wonders right now.

"Sleep," and then I kicked her in the face.

A little bit inside me is cringing from me doing a lot of face kickings, especially to girls of all people. But the second part, which is Crimson, doesn't give a shit and is more prone to being apathetic to everything else.

I sheathe Dust in Chamber and paused when I heard a clapping sound, in which I drew my weapons again.

"Well, well, well. Congratulations. You beat all the Huntsmen I conned into protecting this warehouse." It was an old man, white hair, round glasses. Weird clothes. "You are a great hunter."

I scowled. "Who are you?"

And in front of my eyes, he started to change clothes really quickly that it looked as if he was a tornado, changing into… oh my fucking god.

If my memories were still correct, that was Robbie Rotten in front of me, in his full blue bodysuit glory. Same hair, teeth and chin.

I want to bash my head again, but the guy was a criminal and I don't doubt that he had more skill than his grunts. "My name?" He repeated then laughed. "Why, I am the number one villain of Vale, of course! I am," He posed. "Robert Rotten!"

I snorted.

He narrowed his eyes at me. "You doubt my greatness?"

"Greatness?" I echoed.

Robert just growled. "I don't have to prove myself to a _huntsman!_ " He had a scowl on his face, but it faded as he gained a glint on his eyes as he moved aside. "Oh, do you need proof of my greatness? Well, here it is!"

Behind him, the elevator door was opened. Laying beside the door was Qrow, unconscious but not out of Aura. I gaped and looked at the criminal before looking back at Qrow again.

"How?" I asked, flabbergasted. Qrow does not simply fall asleep. It's almost impossible to sneak up on him, especially when the man was alert. Robert just _knocked out_ Qrow, in what I'm assuming was a sneak attack.

Robert just smirked. "Not in any way you should know. The only thing you should know is that I _did._ "

"I bet you just appeared behind him and put a handkerchief with sleeping powder to his nose," It was mostly snark, but when I saw his face devolve into shock, I incredulously said, "Seriously?"

"Ugh!" Robert pulls out Qrow's sword from him and settles into a stance against me, making me narrow my eyes. _He can't know how to use a sword… right?_

Unfortunately for me, he did.

He came bearing down on me, our swords clashing. I kicked him in the stomach and sent him stumbling back a bit, and I was already ducked beneath him with both swords slashing at his chest, depleting his Aura more.

I swerved to the left as he brought down Qrow's large sword and then flipped back when he swiped it horizontally. He didn't seem to have the speed Qrow has in using it, so I have the advantage here…

Wait—how did he get in front of me so fast?

 **-29 HP**

I was sent flying back as Robert swung the sword at me. He was suddenly so _fast_ , as fast as I am at least. _How did he do that?_

I skid back a bit before rolling to the side as he followed up with a smash to the ground. I swipe at his feet, but he slid back to avoid it. I narrowed my eyes and swipe Chamber at his chest while I was still at the ground, sending him flying through the wall, then outside.

I followed through and glance at the two bodies behind me. They don't seem to be waking up any time soon, so I just follow Robert through the new hole he made.

As soon as I got out, I immediately jumped to avoid a slash. I clicked my tongue. " _Eclipse,_ " I whispered as I brought myself down. Our swords clashed, but I overpowered him with my skill and he jumped back to avoid the hit.

Robert stared at me. "How did you overpower me?"

I was confused. "Have you never been overpowered?"

He growled, looking annoyed. "My semblance is _always_ number one on a single physical aspect! I was number one on strength!"

So his semblance enhances his physical stats… and since I wasn't thrown off, I can only imagine that it means that his stats were only increased by one, so I overpowered him with a skill.

"Thank you for revealing information, Robert," I said curtly. The wind blew around us and formed a tornado, making Robert's eyes widened as he was thrown back by the force, still holding onto Qrow's sword.

I was beside him in moments, sword drawn back to slash at his hand, which I did. Robert yelled out a bit and let go of the sword. I kicked him down then, the dust getting blown up and cracks forming on the ground as the man groaned in annoyance.

" _Hey, look! What the hell's going on?"_ It was a civilian. We were at the edge of the fenced area. I grimaced. _Damn it._

People were starting to come around the edge of our fight, watching us. Some were pulling out their scrolls and recording, while some were on their phones. I imagine they were calling the police, though I don't know how the police would help in this situation.

Robert glared at me from his position across me. "Damn you!"

I shrugged. Qrow's sword was behind me. I'm going to give it to him later. Right now, my focus was Robbie—sorry, Robert, in front of me, who was unarmed but looking pissed.

"I… I can't believe I have to use this so quickly!" He grabs something from inside his red and blue striped overall. It was an apple. _What?_

 **WARNING**

That was the Gamer ability. Prompts were appearing beside Robert as he ate the apple in front of me until the only thing left was its core.

 **BOSS BATTLE IMMINENT**

What.

 **PLAY MUSIC?**

I mean, sure, why not? It's not like—

Suddenly, the air around Robert was sucked in. He was sucking in air and screaming like a fucking anime character. His muscles were contracting and changing, growing _bigger_ , he himself was growing taller, his clothes tearing apart. Several civilians screamed and ran away, while a few brave ones chose to stay far away but still record the event.

I don't regret them screaming.

I could _feel_ that thing—it was unnatural. It was big, physical. It was huge and looked pretty strong but…

It wasn't human. I couldn't feel a soul in it. It was a void of Aura on the normally Aura filled air.

It wasn't human. It was soulless.

I paled.

The thing roared and punched the ground.

I took a peek at my health and Aura.

 **HP: 382/410**

 **Aura: 134/310**

I was lower than I should be when dealing for things like this.

"Yes…" The thing spoke. "I have done it."

Robert's voice changed from his normal one to a deep, masculine one. "I have achieved strength."

"At the cost of your soul," I scowled.

"Yes… but it matters not," The thing chuckled and faced me. His top was ripped off, showing off his muscles and huge arms. "For strength to be the number one in the world is in me."

Ah, so their thoughts are still on the same length.

 **ROBERT ROTTEN,**

 **The Number One Pillar Man**

 **Special Boss**

 **Quest Updated: The Apple of Eden**

 **Completed: Gather information on the M32x syndicate**

 **Defeat Robert Rotten**

I take a deep breath, avoiding the urge to scream out a curse.

It was another god damned named boss. How fucking cute.

 **Boss Theme: Number One Pillar Men**

Oh cool, a theme song—I jump backwards as the Robert was in front of me, fist buried into the ground, dust blowing into the air.

 _Fast!_

I dash forward and slide under as he jabs at me from my standing position, my sword positioned to thrust at his legs, but he kicked me off just as I got close enough.

 **-46 HP!**

Holy shit. 46 HP off from what looked like a light kick.

"Ah… I meant to hit harder," The thing seemed disappointed! "I am still getting used to this body. Worry not, I will still attend to you."

He sounds so much like a stereotypical villain that it's not even funny. He was in front of me, punch already sailing towards my head. I ducked and used my semblance to blow the winds forward, making him shield his eyes as dust came with the winds. I use the distraction to try to cut off his hands, but he just jumped back.

He chuckles. "Clever," He was behind me in a second. "Not clever enough."

I roll forward as he brings both his fists down on my past area, smashing the ground apart. Crates fall over from the resulting shockwave, and I was a bit unbalanced before I immediately stood up to dodge a right hook from Robert.

 _Shit, I can't even attack right now!_ I was too invested in dodging to even try to go on the offensive—I was forced on the defensive.

Cursing, I let my Aura run through Dust, glowing green as it did. I bring up my sword beside the thing's fist as it passed by, and smirked lightly as the skin started to blister, making Robert pull back his oversized fist and frown.

"Acid," he said, distaste obvious on his tone.

I say nothing but continue to smirk. So Acid would wound him instead of corrode his Aura since he doesn't have an Aura to protect him anymore. That's perfect.

Acid seems to solve a lot of things in my life.

I lunge with a thrust, green trailing behind me as I speed past the fallen crates. Robert falls back to avoid being hit by the Acid Dust's aura, my sword swings coming closer to him as the Aura damages him even more.

"How annoying," with those words, he jabs really quickly. I'm sent flying backwards, HP dipping down quite a bit.

 **-93 HP!**

Okay, maybe not just quite a bit. My health is down at the 200s, and I'm not confident that I could take a few more hits like that.

I steady myself just in time to see Robert dart forward. I muttered " _Release,"_ and executed the 24-hit combo skill, but he dodged beside it and cocked back another fist to punch me with.

Thankfully, I slid under him just in time. I swiped Chamber at his stomach just as I passed by, making the monster howl in pain when I stood back up to face him.

He had a gash on his chest now, dripping red blood. My eyes narrowed, watching the abomination for any more signs of movement.

There.

I duck under a punch and thrust Dust right at his wounded chest, the acid probably settling with the wound, since the dude screams like an animal and jumps back, glaring at me.

"You are _very_ annoying!" He roared and punched the ground.

I honestly didn't expect it, the ground suddenly formed spikes to impale me. I jumped up to avoid the spikes, but I couldn't dodge the incoming punch from Robert.

 **-102 HP!**

His damage is going up by the minute!

I was sent to the ground, a crater forming beneath me. I groaned as I sat up, doing a quick Aura Surge to get at least a bit more HP. I'm in the 100s now, I _really_ can't afford to get hit now. Robert was standing above my crater, fist cocked back again to punch.

I flash step the fuck out of there.

The crater deepens and the dust is blown back up again. I was behind him this time and slice at his back with Dust, making him roar in anger and try to elbow me, which resulted in me bringing up Chamber to block it.

It succeeded in cutting his elbow, which made him roar again.

Oh.

He may be physically strong, but he didn't have a body of literal steel. He didn't have Aura to soften up the blows from my sword, so every slash, every swipe, and every cut I give him, he would feel in full. If I were to get a solid hit on him, he would be dead.

Easier said than done, however.

I dashed forward and muttered. _"Atom,"_ executing the 12-hit combo skill. I don't want to spend my Aura on more extensive combo skills right now, since it's needed to keep my health up and to provide at least a bit of cushioning to damage.

The abomination dodged the combo attack by jumping in the air. The dude's fist is cocked back, as if to hit the ground.

Nope.

I jump up and slash at his wrist, making him widen his eyes when his fist fell off and to the ground, blood spilling out of the wound and Acid burning the wound.

I kicked him down, kicking the dust up again as a small crater formed because of the giant. The thing shakily stood up and looked at the stump that was his hand, then looked at me.

"Did you…" I panted a bit, this fight was getting to my stamina. "Did you honestly expect me not to take advantage of that?"

The monster just glared and stomped his foot before disappearing into a blur.

I duck under a kick and do a side jump to avoid his falling leg. I thrust Dust towards his chest, but he swerves to the side to avoid it. He slaps Dust away from him, and by extension, me.

I was sent flying with my sword, skidding on the ground before standing up before I get turned into paste at the floor. I quickly stand up and duck under another punch, which sent a crate behind me flying to the ocean. Ripples formed where it landed.

I swipe Chamber to his stomach, intending to wound him more, but he moves back a bit and made me stumble forward. He grabs me by the cape and slams me down on the ground.

 **-56 HP!**

Fuck, my HP is a bit below 100 right now. My Aura is completely depleted at this point, so my Aura passives disappeared with it. I cough up blood, and frowned.

I see his lone fist descending upon me, so I rolled to the side and took my second chance.

I cut off his whole shoulder.

His howl was deafening.

He didn't have a fist in one hand, and he didn't have a shoulder on another. I've disarmed him off his fists, no pun intended. All he could use now were his feet, which should make my job a bit easier.

A lone point of Aura regenerates, and my Aura Passives reactivated. I sigh in relief. Thank God, that makes this easier too.

My speed increases and I dash forward while he was roaring in pain.

He was roaring, but now?

He wasn't.

My blade cut off his head from his throat, and I chained a combo by cutting him in half on the middle.

Blood tainted my sword.

His head rolled at the ground, set in a roar of anger.

I killed someone.

In cold blood.

I take a deep breath.

I've killed people before.

But it doesn't make the guilt go away.

My eyesight started to blur as a floodlight shined upon me. Looking up, I see a Bullhead with a recording crew or something. Or maybe it was Qrow? I can't tell. I'm way too tired again.

I feel like I might collapse.

I wobble on my feet, stumbling. I hold on to a crate, but someone was behind me.

"Rest, kiddo," he pat me on the shoulder. It was Qrow.

I smiled in relief and passed out.

 **Quest Complete: The Apple of Eden**

 **Completed: Defeat Robert Rotten**

 **+25000 EXP**

 **+Positive reputation on civilians**

 **+Title: The Masked Huntsman**

* * *

" _T-There was a huge dude there! Two huntsmen were fighting in the docks!"_ A witness was excitedly talking to the crew on TV. " _They were so fast, and I saw the masked dude just blur away! It was insane!"_

" _Breaking News,_ " It was Lisa Lavender, the reporter for the VNN, the Vale News Network. " _Two huntsmen were seen fighting at the docks, several cargo being unsettled. Eyewitnesses report an unsettling feeling coming from one of the combatants, though from which one is still unknown._ " There was footage beside it, two huntsmen, a huge, muscled man, and someone who vaguely looks like Qrow with a mask.

"Yang, look at that!" Ruby, who is 13 at this time and a student of Signal, called out to Yang excitedly.

"Yeah, I see it." Yang is 15 at this time, a third year at Signal. She scrutinized the video and observed the dark haired man, observing his weapon and stance. "Ruby… do you feel as if you know the dude with the black hair?"

Ruby narrowed her eyes and tilted her head. "Yeah, he kind of seems familiar."

There was a pause. "That _can't_ be Crimson, right?"

Yang laughed. "Probably not! He can't be that good, can he?"

As the two sisters laughed at the absurdity of the thought, the father simply paled and dialed his friend again.

" _Qrow…!"_

* * *

 _ **A/N**_

 _ **Hello, I'm still writing**_

 _ **I don't know why I push myself so hard**_

 _ **I wrote 10k in 2 days straight and now I feel suckish. My head is pounding a bit, ya know? I think I'm going to take a break… probably. I don't know.**_

 _ **To that person who asked about my update date, wellll, I don't really have one? I just update whenever I want to.**_

 _ **To the person who asked for pairings, well, maybe, I don't know. I suck at romance.**_

 _ **To everyone else who encouraged me, thank you! I will keep on writing to satisfy all you guys' desires… or not. I don't care.**_

 _ **Anddd now, onto the story.**_

 _ **I was bored, and I needed expendable villains. I can't exactly write a whole OC with a fleshed out backstory just for the sake of killing him off. That just sucks.**_

 _ **So instead, I relied on memes.**_

 _ **Some of them turned out meh, like the three stooges. If you want to know where those came from, just look up You Are A Pirate! on Youtube, that video was hilarious.**_

 _ **The other half could be recurring characters, like Interna Explorer and Mozilla Firefox (I laughed when I wrote those two, and I'm laughing now thinking of them as characters), which is cool I guess.**_

 _ **The third part weeelll.. Robbie Rotten is dead, so it doesn't really matter. I didn't intend to catch his personality since technically, I was only taking his name and clothes for the memes that Crimson would remember.**_

 _ **(Edited to add, this chapter occurred because I listened to JJBA Awaken for an hour then listened to Number One Pillar Men for another hour. Awaken is a good song, and when it mashed up with We are Number One, it made me want to write something. I don't know how my mind works sometimes. I'm not a Jojo fan, but this is a Jojo reference, haha.)**_

 _ **(Edited: 9/25/17: Changed Yang's year from second to third because I did it wrong.)**_

 _ **His 7 intelligence reminds him of his previous life, but seeing real life people derived from memes will make him remember.**_

 _ **I thought the story was being a bit more serious and family-like than I intended, so I wrote it.**_

 _ **If no one's realized yet, M32x is M3 M3. Put that together and we got M3M3. It's pretty obvious when it's put like that, isn't it?**_

 _ **Anyway, I think that's it**_

 _ **Semi-serious, so don't take it too seriously**_

 _ **Take this story with a grain of salt**_

 _ **Reviews are appreciated, but not necessary.**_

 _ **(I still like them a lot though)**_


	6. Year 3

_A/Ns at the bottom of the chapter_

* * *

 _I don't own RWBY, Roosterteeth owns it_

 _I only own my OCs_

 _Wait—Crimson, don't wave that sword aroAAAAAH—_

* * *

 _A few days later_

* * *

 _I'm sensing a pattern here,_ I thought as I woke up to a bright light.

It was the familiar ceiling from a year ago, I thought dryly. _Now_ I'm sure that I'm in Beacon. Qrow seems to keep bringing me here whenever I pass out, though the why he does it is still unknown. I dismissed the completed quest prompt, taking note of the rewards and stocking it for later.

I sit up and look around. No one's in my room again, though that's bound to change. I can sense Qrow with a few aura signatures coming my way, so I expect some company that would probably want to talk to me.

I test out my voice. "Ha… F..f.." Damn, my throat hurts and is scratchy. I need a glass of water. I've probably been unconscious for a few days.

I rub a sore spot on my back. A few days maximum, since I still feel the sore parts from my fight with the living meme. I glanced around, none of my gear is in here either, as expected. So I'm unarmed and thirsty. Great.

The door opens, and Qrow walks in with a silver haired man who had a mug of hot steaming coffee… or I _assume_ it's coffee. I can't really tell—I'm not omniscient.

Qrow smirks and pats my shoulder. "Morning, kiddo."

The silver haired man—Ozpin, I recognize from the scroll calls with Qrow during or before missions—smiles with a glint on his eyes. "Good morning, young man."

I nodded at them both and grunt as I sit up. Both men find a seat, Qrow dragging one from the side and Ozpin opting to remain standing as he observed me.

Dude looks weird as hell, kind of like a pedophile, but what can I do?

Qrow makes a move to introduce us both. "Yeah, so this is Crimson, Oz," he tells him casually. _Indicating a lot of trust. More than a boss?_ "And this is Ozpin, Crimson."

Kind of figures that out. I grunt in acknowledgement. "N… Need, water."

Qrow pulls out a bottle of water and passes it to me. I drink it greedily, some spilling out of my mouth and dropping to my robes. When I finish drinking the bottle, I crumpled the plastic bottle and place it on a desk. "Ah…" My throat feels less scratchy now. "That… is an improvement."

Ozpin shook his head and finally took a seat beside me. "So, Mister Crimson, how do you feel?"

"I'm not dead, so I feel pretty—" I coughed. Damn my scratchy throat. "—sorry, I feel pretty fine all things considered."

"It would seem that way," the silver haired man mused. "Fighting a behemoth does that to a person, I presume?"

"Half the fight was me on the defensive until I found out—" Cough. "—that he had no aura. The rest was me trying to get a solid hit on him."

Ozpin made a sound of acknowledgment. "I see."

We were silent for awhile, Qrow opting to stay out of the conversation and stare out of the nearest window in silence.

"I will cut to the chase then," Ozpin interrupts the peace and puts both of his hands under his chin. "What did you see before the man became… a soulless behemoth?"

"He ate an apple," I said plainly. No need to mince words here. "He also conned several Huntsmen and Huntresses into protecting his warehouse, though I'm not sure about the ones I left in the underground complex."

The old man nodded, a look of amusement crossing his face for a second. "Ah yes, the inseparable trio. They _are_ huntsmen, but they aren't very strong, don't you think?"

"No," I agreed. "They were fodder at best. Why did he trick several huntsmen into fighting for his warehouse?"

Ozpin just shrugged. "We aren't sure. The crates contained nothing but typical goods, and the perpetrator himself is dead, so we cannot question him."

I level my thoughts. _It was a kill or be killed situation. Besides that, he was already soulless. It was a mercy killing at worst. "_ There weren't any other apples?"

Ozpin made a 'hum' sound. "Not that we were aware of."

I thought on the problem for a bit. _So there were no backup apples, and he had no real goons himself… that means he's working for someone or that he has really bad insight._ "Is there any other instance where Robert did something stupid?"

A thoughtful expression covered the old huntsman's face. "I'm afraid not. He was always meticulous in his tracks, hiding his activity and setting numerous false trails to mislead our police. He was the most wanted man in Vale for a reason. He was _very_ good at his job."

I nodded. "So he—" Cough. "—sorry, should have been working for someone. Someone had to provide the apple since he was based in Vale, and last I checked, there were no Aura draining apples around Vale unless I was horribly misinformed."

The headmaster raised a brow, but I can tell that his attention was all on me. "Aura draining?"

I glance at him. "You didn't know?" Immediately after I asked, I found myself stupid. Of course he didn't know—not unless he could sense someone's Aura from miles away. You can't sense Aura from the dead, after all.

"I'm afraid I don't understand in what you meant by Aura draining," Ozpin admitted. "We only know that he grew several times larger when he ate the apple. We assumed that it was a muscle enhancing drug, not something Aura related."

I coughed again. "It was something Aura related, alright. The moment he ate the apple, the wind around him was sucked in—now I just realized, he was taking in Aura from around him and inside him—he was turning his own Aura into muscle mass. He sold his soul to be strong."

If Ozpin was surprised, he didn't show it. "I see."

I stayed silent for awhile, waiting for Ozpin to ask another question. He looked deep in thought, idly staring at his coffee mug. He had a concentrating look on his face, which broke once he realized I was staring.

"Ah, I apologize, mister Crimson. I suppose I will take my leave now," He inclined his head towards me and left the clinic, leaving me alone with Qrow.

I was silent again, stewing in my thoughts. Qrow was still there, staring out the window, after which he looked at me. "Kiddo, I know this isn't your first kill, but…" He took a deep breath. "I was kinda worrying that you were already desensitized to death, but," He smiled at me. A genuine smile. "I'm happy you still have a heart inside that stone cold chest of yours."

I snorted. "Of course I do," I sighed. "It's just that—you know? He's still a person in the end. He sold his soul to be strong—to be number one and all that. I don't know why I'm feeling this now. Empathy."

"Empathy isn't necessarily a bad thing," Qrow said quietly. "It reminds you that you're still human, after all."

Yeah, it really does, doesn't it?

I'm not a robot, I'm not an RPG character no matter what my ability or what I do. I'm still human; I'm not playing a game. I'm a person just like everyone else.

I smiled ruefully. "I would pay for a passive perk that kills all negative status effects right now."

Qrow snorted. "And have you act more like a robot? Kiddo, your dad will _kill_ me if you became more of a statue," He took a swig from his canister—a steel-colored thing that I didn't see him carry inside—and put it behind him once he finished.

I pointed it out to him. "Already? In the morning?" I mean, I'm _sure_ it's morning. Is it? I can't tell.

"It's noon, actually," Qrow helpfully supplied, reclining back on his chair.

"Noon?" I don't know how to tell the time of day by looking at the sun—sue me. "Damn."

He shrugged. "It was a good try," he stretches at the seat and yawns. "Mind if I take a powernap over here? I have to go back to Signal tomorrow—your sisters are pretty good students. Better than you, anyway."

I sniffed. "Please, Qrow. You didn't have to teach me anything."

"Yes, and that turned out well, didn't it?" I got a feeling that it would have been a snide remark if it wasn't true.

I made a sound of agreement and stayed silent as Qrow drifted off into dreamland. I pondered my status right now.

 _Why did I want to be a huntsman?_

With my ability, I could have been anything from a thief to a hacker, but instead, I chose to be a huntsman. Why?

Was there really any sense to my decision? Was it just influenced because of my stats?

Am I even myself anymore?

A thought pervades my thoughts. _Yang. Ruby. Taiyang._

Well, multiple thoughts, but you get the idea.

Yeah, I really did become a huntsman for those three, didn't I?

Ever since that day at the abandoned building, I never wanted to become helpless anymore. I didn't want to be weak and be unable to handle the weakest individual Grimm in Remnant—I didn't want to be incompetent enough to harm my own family.

I wanted to be strong to protect my own family.

It might be selfish of me—but I don't really have any connections to Vale itself. I could wander around Remnant, fighting for myself. I could just kill every Grimm I come across and ignore everyone else unless they needed help.

But if my family needed help, I'd tear down every enemy I come across, just so I can make sure that they'll be safe.

Both of my sisters are training to be huntresses—and my dad is no slouch either if Qrow's skill and praises were to be believed. But I didn't want to put them in a position where they can't win.

With my ability… well.

I am far stronger than anyone else at my age group right now. Age and level boosts the SPECIAL stats effectiveness to the point that someone at their 30s with 10 agility would be a blur to me. If I become that strong and experienced, nothing would stop me from protecting my family.

I take a deep breath.

I didn't want to lose them—my previous life ended because I was too weak to fight back. I was too weak to try to at least disarm the criminal. Like hell I'm going to feel that weak here.

I closed my eyes and began to plot my next few stat raises.

 _10 to Unarmed in the next level up… points needed in blunt melee…_

* * *

 _A year later, 16 years old_

* * *

I look over the forest from Beacon. It was lush, green. Looked like a perfect example of a healthy forest if it wasn't for the fact that it was filled with Grimm. Lesser species of Grimm—but still Grimm, nonetheless.

I casually twirl Dust beside me as I observe the forest, trying to discern where my new quest objective was. My perception still hasn't raised a single bit, so trying to look for it with my eyes would be a terrible idea, but it still helps to look for it.

 **Quest Added: Soul Artifact**

 **Locate the Ancient Temple**

I hummed as I glance over a set of pillars covered with overgrowth. It certainly _looked_ like an ancient temple, but I don't think that it would be where the Quest Area is. Though, with my luck, it would be, so it would be in my best interests to head over anyway.

But before that, I observe my status.

 **Crimson Branwen (LV. 18)**

 **Health: 440**

 **Aura: 330**

 **Semblance: Aerokinesis**

 **Experience: 11500/43000**

 **S – 8 + 2**

 **P – 3**

 **E – 5 + 2**

 **C – 2**

 **I – 7**

 **A – 10**

 **L – 5**

 **Skills**

 **Speech (Charisma): 59**

 **Barter (Charisma): 33**

 **Bladed Melee (Agility): 100**

 **Blunt Melee (Strength): 75**

 **Unarmed (Endurance): 100**

 **Small Guns (Agility): 25**

 **Big Guns (Strength): 20**

 **Lockpick (Perception): 14**

 **Repair (Intelligence): 18**

 **Smith (Intelligence): 18**

 **Computers (Intelligence): 18**

 **Sneak (Agility): 68**

 **Medicine (Intelligence): 18**

 **Aura Manipulation (Intelligence): 100**

 **Available Points: 0**

 **Traits []**

I had leveled up twice since the fiasco with Robert Rotten. 40 points in total—10 went into unarmed, 26 to blunt melee so I can use Dust when it's sheathed in Chamber—or it's Dust Chamber, actually—and 4 into Lockpick, which to my chagrin, still hasn't leveled up no matter how many times I picked locks. Speech leveled up a few times, though notably slower than before, and Sneak is still growing at the relatively same rate as before.

I also gained a new trait for leveling up to 18—it's called Paralyzing Palm. I have a 30% chance of paralyzing an enemy when I use an unarmed attack. It's really helpful—especially when I hit faster than most people can hit me to begin with. 30% is a really big chance when you can land 7 different hits to your enemy faster than they can react—though which are unarmed and which are from my sword is different.

Thankfully, I have maxed both Unarmed and Bladed Melee—and my Blunt Melee is on a decently high level as well. That way, I can use all the forms of my weapon effectively. Sheathed, Unsheathed, or Dual Wielding.

I can also do unarmed combat—makes it easier for me to pick up martial arts from either watching or reading about it. It's not as good as I want it to be though, since my Endurance being 5 limits my skill on Unarmed combat to simply a normal huntsman's level.

 _I mean, it's nothing to scoff at, but it's not at the level of my swordplay… or at the level of any bladed weapon that I use, anyway._ I idly sheath Dust into Chamber as I set my eyes on the overgrown temple. I _could_ go there, just to see if it would trigger a quest update. I could also leave the quest alone and leave it to dry since there weren't any penalties for not complying, but the sexy digits beckon.

I jump off the cliff, using my Aerokinesis to cushion my fall. I run towards the general direction of my destination, casually taking in the scenery around me.

 _This would be a nice place to have a picnic in,_ I thought off handedly as I come across a clearing. _Provided, of course, the Grimm were exterminated. Wonder why Ozpin hasn't murdered the Grimm in the area yet?_ I get no answer, of course, and keep running.

 _Grruuaaah!_

Poor Ursa.

I don't even unsheathe my weapon for this. I take off Dust Chamber from my side and swipe at the chest of the Ursa, making it stumble back. I ducked under a strong swipe and hit it on its side, making it roar again. I thrust my sheathed sword to its belly, making it wobble on its legs. I jumped up and brought my sword over its head, making it crumple to the ground.

I bring my sword down on its head.

The thing about Dust Chamber is that it counts as a blunt melee weapon since the edges of Chamber aren't necessarily sharp. It severely limits my sword's capabilities since I can't access Dust's revolving dust chambers—no pun intended—therefore not allowing me to put dust effects on the weapon. So it was, essentially, a metal bat.

A really tough metal bat.

When I hit the Ursa's head, my blunt sword sunk into its head. And I mean that literally—there was no cut, no blood. Dust Chamber sunk on its head through pure force, stopping its cry of pain and allowing it to dissolve into black matter.

I twirl my sword and attach it to my side again, then setting out to run again.

It was mostly uneventful. The intimidation factor that comes with the Ursa Mask sets off most low level Grimm. Frankly, it's a lot of help. I don't really want to keep dealing with a lone Beowolf or Ursa (the above Ursa was probably too slow to get out of the way, so the Intimidation factor worked—but didn't work quite as well as I hoped it would). Groups of low tier Grimm _will_ still try to hunt me though. The intimidation factor, unfortunately, gets curbed when there's an Alpha wolf keeping the pack in line.

On the topic of packs, there were none in my immediate vicinity. I stopped upon seeing the overgrown temple—let me just call it the Forest Temple, overgrown temple sounds stupid—and observed the surrounding area.

It was mostly ambience. Trees, rocks, boulders, some potholes and other stuff. I can see some faint scratches on the ground and some bullet holes, so people might have been here recently.

There were a few pedestals inside the Forest Temple. I don't spare it a second thought as I immediately scanned the area for any other tips.

"An ancient temple," I murmured, eyes narrowed. If I were a game designer, I would put a dungeon underneath this one, a doorway either activated by a number of people or through a secret doorway. I run my hand across a pillar, trying to judge for any secret levers.

There were none. Though that's to be expected. I can't sense anything without an Aura, after all. Besides, the secret doorway might not even run on Dust but on a overly complicated pulley system that would lift a rock and then drop it after a few seconds.

As overly complicated as my imagination and paranoia, anyway.

I pace back and forth at the Forest Temple, trying to find a way to any sort of Ancient Temple in the area. Clues, remnants, anything. There's nothing, and I'm honestly getting a bit frustrated and tempted to just leave the quest alone.

I was going to just go back to the cliffs to call it a day, but stopped when I felt a familiar presence abruptly appear within my sensing range. I look to the left and see a red portal closing and a familiar raven haired woman.

I inclined my head towards her. "Mother."

She glances at me. "Crimson," Her tone was smooth, revealing nothing of her intentions. "I wasn't aware you attended Beacon."

"I'm still Qrow's apprentice," I informed her curtly. While I didn't hold a grudge against my mother, I didn't exactly _respect_ her per se. I _might_ be a little bitter about her leaving us behind while she does whatever it is she did. Might. "I haven't changed occupations yet."

Raven hummed. "I see," Her hands were at her side, not going for her blade at all. I almost relax, but being in her presence still fills me with a sense of danger and paranoia.

"I didn't know that a wanted criminal could come close to Beacon Academy," I casually dropped the sentence. "What brings you here?"

She smiles wryly at me. "What brings _you_ here? Who knows, we may be looking for the same thing."

I hesitate. Should I tell her that I'm looking an Ancient Temple? While it _may_ lead her to join me in exploring the crap out of that thing, it could also lead her to just kill me when I pass out after. When. When, not if. It'd be a dream come true if I could stay awake for the whole mission.

I might have been obvious, since Raven points it out. "You might be over thinking my intentions here, Crimson," She walks over to me, standing at eye level. I'm about her height now, if not a little taller.

"There's no such thing as over thinking, _mom_ ," I said, my hand resting on Dust Chamber, ready to separate them to two. "How do I know you won't just stab me in the back?"

It was only a split second, but it looked like as if she was peeved at my suggestion. "Why would I kill my own son?" Her expression changed from amused to flat in a second.

I crossed my arms. "The same reason that you would leave your children behind?"

"Completely different things," She waved it off. "Besides, it turned out well, didn't it?"

Wow, that phrase is being used quite a bit in the past year. "If by 'well' you mean encounter my mother and fight her because she tried to stab me, then yes. It turned out quite well."

She just does a sardonic smile. "My tribe does far worse than what I do. Remember, Crimson, the weak die and the strong survive. And you have done much more than survive. Not many could have kept up with me at a normal fight."

"Our fight was anything but normal," I pointed out to her. "We weren't even fighting with our dust."

Raven concedes to the point. "True, but in a sword fight, people would be normally overwhelmed by my speed and precision. You had parried and deflected a lot of my attacks, and even scored a few hits."

I sighed. "Just get to the point, mom. I don't want to argue about my skill or what I want to do with my life," that sentence makes her smirk a bit. "If you want to fight me again, well there's going to be a problem with that because I don't really want to fight right now." And I really don't. If I find my quest area after I fight her, then I'd be low on Aura and HP. I doubt I could dungeon crawl with minimum values.

She tries to placate me by raising her hands up mockingly. "Relax, I don't want a fight," I don't relax. I narrow my eyes at her as I try to understand why she was here, making her raise a brow and sigh. "Honestly, you should trust me more."

"Uh huh," I voiced out my thoughts on the situation, unimpressed.

"Fine, I'm going to an Ancient Temple around the forest. It was around here somewhere, and there's something inside that's apparently really important. I need it for my tribe," Raven finally states her reason, looking only a little annoyed. "I suppose that's why you're here, too?"

I grunted. "Close enough," I begrudgingly let go of Dust Chamber and settle into a relaxed but ready stance. "Do you know where it is?"

Raven nodded. "Follow me," and with those words, she dashed to the north, with me behind her.

Just like my dash towards the Forest Temple, this one was relatively uneventful. The Grimm around the Emerald Forest were weak, with only a few being marked as old and strong. Those few, however, still haven't reached the age of the numerous other Grimm that I found and killed outside the walls of Vale, so I doubt that even they would be a problem.

While we were dashing, Raven tried to make conversation with me.

"I find it difficult to believe that Qrow left you alone here," Keyword is _tried_. She's probably digging information—on what, though, I don't know.

I duck under a branch and replied seamlessly. "He's teaching my sisters in Signal," I hissed as a branch scratched my cheek, my Aura quickly healing the small flesh wound. "It's not really that difficult to believe. He sends videos sometimes."

"Oh?" Raven's amused by something, and for the love of me, I don't know _what._ "And what do you think of their skill?"

I grimaced. So this is what she was after. "They're… improving," I said carefully. "They're not at my level yet, though I doubt anyone my age could be at my level." That wasn't my ego talking—the gamer ability scales my skills with my levels and age. Basically, if I had 100 Bladed Melee at level 7 and challenged someone with 100 Bladed Melee at level 10, I would lose the sword fight.

The fight itself, however, would be a different matter. Skills and levels don't dictate the battle, after all.

Raven raised a brow, not breaking concentration from her dash. "That's a lot of confidence."

"And a lot of skill to back it up."

"I see," the conversation ended there. I didn't really want to continue on this line of thinking, and I don't really want to doubt my family's skill levels. I know I'm much more skilled than they are—but I'm still reminded that without my secondary power, I wouldn't even _have_ this much skill. I doubt I could do half the stuff I've done over the years without my stats, and it felt cheaty to think about when I see the progress my sisters make.

I take a deep breath as I keep running.

The rest of the run passed by without much trouble. We stopped at the edge of the forest, looking at a cave with the entrance the size of a few people stacked on top of each other. It wasn't wide at all—it looked like a crack on the surface of the cliff it was on rather than a gaping opening.

"This is it?" I asked, voice conveying a miniscule amount of curiosity. "Doesn't look like a temple at all."

Raven hummed. "I imagine that there's something inside."

"Let's take a look then, shall we?" I went in first, the pioneer that I am, and took out a flash light I hid in my cape. I shined my light inside and see a _huge_ door, about as huge as the crack is itself. The crack in the cliff was deep enough that no light shined at the door, hiding its golden glory to the outside world.

 **Quest Updated: Soul Artifact**

 **Completed: Locate the Ancient Temple**

 **Enter the Ancient Temple**

Well I suppose that this was the quest area.

"Holy shit," I gaped. _What the hell was the civilization here hiding that it had to make a door this big?_

Raven squeezed in after me, and she too couldn't escape the glory that was the golden door. "What is… oh," I'm sure she was gaping like me.

Nonetheless, we're on a quest to discover what exactly is behind this door, so we had little time to be impressed by the golden door. Quickly, I shined my flashlight off the big door and in front of me. Sadly, there was no little door for me to enter in, unless I tried to melt the golden glory, and even then, there was no legitimate clue that the door even _opened_ as I flashed the light at the floor. There were no marks on the ground that suggested the door opened outwards, so I was left clueless.

Raven, meanwhile, was snooping around the cave, turning over rocks and checking holes in the cave walls for any secret levers or stuff (or at least, that's what I think she's doing), and if her frustration showed anything, it's that she hasn't found anything important.

So I stepped back and observed the door again, squinting at it. There were patterns on it, circulating like the veins in a human body. I paused, thinking face on. Usually, that dictates that there would be a large amount of energy required to power this thing, and dictates that the people that made this were aware of Aura. If I opened this door with all my energy and Grimm started to come out, I would be relying on Raven to either take me outside or defend me while I get back my energy.

I'm not sure on the odds of either.

"Raven," I called out to her. She glances back at me with an unreadable expression and casually drops a rock she turned over to come.

"Yes," her tone was clipped and to the point. "Do you have an idea on how to open this door?"

"I have a theory that this door needs Aura to open," I pointed at the numerous patterns that adorned the door. "Look at those lines; they're like veins to a body. It might be Aura conduits to a bunch of levers. I don't know. But it should be worth a shot."

"I suppose," She stares at me with another unreadable expression. "And what do you want me to do while you open the door?"

"Protect me if anything bad comes out?" I threw my hands up. "I don't know, just don't let me die if something bad comes out of the door."

She slowly nods and unsheathes her sword. "Understood," Damn, she's stiff.

Raven stands in front of the door, sword drawn, alert and ready. I pressed my hands to the door and channel my Aura to it. I see a crimson red—my aura, as Qrow often told me the color of my aura—and a light blue twist around each other and run through the veins.

It took a few minutes—and about 40 aura points that were already regenerating—to fully power the thing. Right now, it has a blue and crimson glow—two colors that are entwined with each other. I assumed that the blue was the door's leftover Aura from previous usage.

At first, there wasn't anything other than the light show, which I found disappointing. I took a few steps back and am now beside Raven, looking at the door. The door wasn't budging a bit—which apparently, also disappointed Raven.

"Is that al—" The ground rumbled as the door—apparently, _doors_ —moved apart from the middle. The doors moved to the sides as the ground rumbled. I almost lost my footing a few times, but Raven helped me stay up by holding on to my shoulders.

Rocks fell from the ceiling as the door rumbled, a few landing near Raven and I. Thankfully, those that _did_ hit us were repelled by our Aura, so no permanent damage was done.

The doors fully opened, revealing a wide space full of _nothing._

Seriously, there was nothing behind it—except for two paths and a bunch of blue and red crystals acting as the lighting for the room.

I walk forward, fascinated by the crystals. "These crystals… they're the color of my and the door's aura."

Raven followed slowly, glancing around. "Yes. I've never seen anything like this before," She breaks a crystal from its formation, and it quickly loses its glow, turning into a dull gray. "Odd."

I do the same as she does and break off a crystal from a wall. Unlike hers, the crystal doesn't lose its blue and red glow. Instead, the Aura almost seems… excited? They're entwined with each other and are moving more rapidly. On a whim, I stretch out my own Aura.

The Aura in the crystals respond by going in me.

My eyes widened and I almost dropped the crystal as my Aura reserves were filled to the max. The crystal then lost its glow, turning into a similar dull gray that Raven has.

"I just got Aura from these things," I said, shock still evident in my voice.

Raven's brows furrowed. "Really?" She picked up another one, and it, once again, loses its glow. "I can't pick them up at all. I can tell my Aura is better at this place, but the crystals die when I pick them up."

 _Maybe because they have my Aura in them?_ I mused. That would mean that every crystal in this place is powered by me. But that's impossible—I didn't even channel that much Aura to the door. It would be impossible for my Aura to store themselves into the crystals in this whole room—and there were a lot.

Whatever this was—it was old. Old enough, anyway.

I grab a few crystals and keep them in a free pouch in my cape. They didn't fade when I broke them off—unlike Raven's crystals that died the moment she broke it off from the formation. I guess I could use these as Aura potions—or something similar, anyway.

I glance towards one of the paths and nodded at Raven. "I'm going to go inside. Are you gonna stay here?"

"No," She stands up from her own crystal formation and dusted off her skirt. "I suppose I get nothing from this endeavor."

I slowly nodded as I turn towards the tunnel. "Then you're leaving?" I keep my voice flat.

My answer was the sound of a portal opening, a few steps, and then…

Gone.

I looked back, and she wasn't there anymore.

Looks like I'm alone this time.

 _Then again, whenever I take a named mission, when am I really with someone else?_

That's true, I suppose. My first one, I was alone in the Beowolf den, the second one, I was alone on the tunnel towards the Giant Nydus Worm, the third one, I was alone against the Aberration, the most recent one, I was facing off against a soulless man on my own.

When I face off against dangerous enemies, I'm always alone. Some part of me is relieved at the thought. At least I won't be endangering any innocents with my Acid or the enemy's attacks. Another part is worried that I would be overwhelmed at one point—I'd be facing off against something that would be so far above my skill level that the fight would be a joke. Another part is indifferent, uncaring of any of the worries above. Apathetic.

That part scares me the most. The carelessness towards the innocent—I don't want that. While I just want to protect my family, involving innocents in a fight or at least carelessness to them doesn't sit well with me.

Going inside the tunnel, I idly note that the crystals were also present here, though to a lesser degree. They were few and far in between—some growing on corners and others growing on the walls. They were far smaller than the ones in the big room, and sensing the Aura inside them yielded the same results. The Aura here was less dense and compact, so if the crystals back in the big room were greater potions, I guess the ones here would be lesser ones.

I stopped when I heard a moan. It sounded like a zombie's moan. It was familiar to me—I've heard it a few times with my missions with Qrow that took us to an ancient area, so this should be a—

I casually duck under a swipe from a humanoid Grimm. It was pitch black in color and stood in around 5 feet. It had red eyes, and it didn't look very threatening. It moaned again, trying to hit me again, but I just stepped back and unsheathed Dust, thrusting it to its chest.

It moaned and fell down, disintegrating. I flatly stare at the corpse and look forward again, this time, more alert.

The Grimm I just killed was called a Ghoul. They were mostly present in ancient ruins like these one and usually appeared in hordes, similar to that of Beowolves. However, they were very weak individually, so to compensate, the normal horde would be around 70 Ghouls. I should expect at least that much inside here.

I continued to walk forward, cautious. There were a few other tunnels, but they all ended without anything of note. The only tunnel that hasn't ended yet was forward, so I suppose it's the only way.

I focus on my Sensor ability, trying to look for any signatures inside. Other than the crystals—which all had a _familiar_ feel to them, probably because they had at least a bit of my Aura—there was the void of Aura which signified Grimm.

All of them were in one area, forward. A huge dense black hole of no Aura at one place. Oddly enough, there seems to be a spark in the middle—another yet familiar feeling—a spark of Aura that seems to be bursting. I don't know what it is, but it must be important enough that all the Grimm in the area had congregated to it.

 _Treasure, I guess._ Treasure… To be honest, I don't know what I'd do with treasure, but I suppose I could pawn it off for extra Lien. Extra money doesn't hurt anyone except the one who lost it.

I dash forward, intent to find out what it is. I pass by several crystal formations and see scratches on the wall, but nothing interesting on the way there.

 _Odd._

I skid to a halt as I near the area. The void of Aura was just behind this huge door. It had similar markings to the big one I had unlocked awhile ago, so it would probably open with some application of Aura.

There was a statue of a knight on each side, both dressed in the traditional plate armor and sword, both set in a battle ready formation. They were, thankfully, statues, so I don't need to—

A black blur—no, _two_ black blurs sped past me, making me lose my balance for a few seconds and correct my footing. I unsheathe Dust and Chamber, turning both into the swords I'm familiar with. The two black blurs entered the two separate knights.

I hate Geists sometimes.

The two knights were now alive. They had a Geist's masks on their visors, and was no standing with their sword pointed to me.

I take a deep breath and sighed. "When can I get an easy named mission?" I grumbled in annoyance as Dust glows an eerie green. The knights charged at me, one going for a slash to my feet, and another above me.

It _would_ have been a good plan, if I wasn't as good as I was. I hopped back as the sword tore the ground in front of me and the overhead sword hit nothing but the cave's walls, bringing down some rocks in the process. I weave through the rocks as I dash towards the knights, Dust leaving a green trail.

Idly, I begin to experiment with Aerokinesis. It's been awhile since I tried to make new perks.

A cone of wind started to form itself in front of me, a greenish tint with the winds. I jump over another sword slice and parry the other, sending it to the wall and using it as a platform to jump up.

I was head level to both the knights now, their visors in my sights. The wind still forming a drill like pattern in front of me, I utter the words.

 **Aura Manipulation Check Success: 100/60**

 **Bladed Melee Check Success: 100/75**

" _Flash Step._ " I disappeared to a blur as I pierced forward. The swords that were coming towards me were dodged as I darted forward, right into the mask of a Geist.

I pierced the head at contact, some of the metal melting at the piercing winds combined with the Acid from Dust. I twist in mid air, facing the other knight, now staring at me and raising its sword to try and attack me.

A prompt appeared at my vision, prompting a name for the new perk.

" _Flash Strike,_ " The prompt disappeared, and the cone around me intensified as I darted forward again, passing through the sword and piercing the head of the knight, mask first.

I hit the floor and rolled to soften the impact. I don't look back as I heard both knights fall and shatter. They were stone knights—not made of metal, so it makes sense they would fall apart. There's also another thing.

Cool people don't look at explosions.

I have 150 EXP more. Nice. There was also a prompt next to it that described Flash Strike.

 **Perk earned: Flash Strike**

 **Unique Perk! The player becomes a drill of wind to pierce the heavens—err, his enemies.**

The game is still snarky, unfortunately.

I dismiss the prompt and sheathe Dust on Chamber's non activated form to press my hand on the door. The feeling behind it hasn't changed—a void of Aura. My expression grim, I channel Aura to the door.

It doesn't take much. The door rumbles. It opens slightly and I can already hear the moans of the ghouls inside. I unsheathe Dust and Chamber, ready to fight again.

Unfortunately, I greatly underestimate their size.

Where I expected human sized Ghouls, I didn't expect giants. Towering over me, they were easily 10 feet tall, twice the size of a normal Ghoul. They had bone spikes on their wrists and masks over their faces.

All of them were looking at me.

 **Quest Updated: Soul Artifact**

 **Completed: Enter the Ancient Temple**

 **Find the Artifact**

Cursing, I rolled to the side as a pair of arms slammed down on my area. I twist to face my enemies and initiate my new perk.

" _FlashStrikeFlashStrikeFlashStrikeFlashStrike!"_ 4 flash strikes in a row, and several Ghouls were dead, pierced in the head, chest, or cut off some extremities. They all howled as some smaller Ghouls were squashed when the bigger ghouls fell, and several others lost their head.

I was above them, and I tried to survey the battlefield.

It was a sea of Ghouls. More than 70—I would say there's at least a hundred and fifty, more or less. I grimaced as I slice off a hand that was getting too close for comfort and landed on the ground, the Grimm towering over me.

I took a step forward to avoid a Ghoul stomping me and slash forward diagonally, cutting a normal Ghoul in half. I channel Aura into my sword again and slash, once again, diagonally.

" _Wind Blade!_ " Ah, how I love this perk. The wind blade cuts down the normal sized ghouls in front of me and slices off the feet of the giants. The giants roared as they fell down, and I was there to finish them off.

I stabbed down on one of the falling giant's head, killing it, before flipping back to kick a normal ghoul in the back of the head, sending it to the floor and slightly burying its head in a self made hole. I slash downward to cut off the head of a fallen giant, and land on top of a normal ghoul that I quickly killed with a stab on the head.

I channel more Aura into Dust and slam it to the ground. A shockwave of acidic wind erupts from below it, the smaller Ghouls in the area melting and screaming while the bigger ones lost the rest of their legs, making them fall down.

I spun the chamber inside Dust and settle it to Ice Dust. I executed another Wind shockwave, trapping the fallen Ghouls in ice, then switched to Gravity Dust, and slammed down again.

This time, the ice shattered, shards of it getting stuck in the ghouls, making them scream in pain as the shards slowly killed them. A few of the Grimm were already turning into wisps, while a few tried to stand up.

I sighed. "I really hate dungeon crawling," I initiated another Flash Strike to penetrate a giant's head, making it fall backwards after just standing up, and Flash Strike to another giant's chest, making it fall to its knees and then to its face. I land with a roll, slashing at a giant's knees when I stood up. It roared in pain as I jumped up, and executed another Flash Strike to pierce its chest.

 _Man, I'm really loving this new perk. Doesn't take a lot of Aura too._

I feel like I'm ripping off somebody's move, but according to my experience and my own opinion, if it exists, I can abuse it.

Speed is key, after all.

* * *

Meanwhile, somewhere in Patch, a girl with black and red hair sneezed.

"Ew, gross, Ruby! You sneezed at the ice cream!" exclaimed her sister, holding up said ice cream.

"Oh gosh, I'm sorry!"

* * *

I penetrate through the chest of the final giant ghoul, and land gracefully behind it. I use up two crystals for 120 points of Aura. It's not full, but the regeneration should handle it fine. I'm close to having a full tank, anyway.

I save the last three crystals I have and walk towards the middle of the room. Now that the Grimm here was mostly gone (I could still sense a few, but I can't exactly pinpoint where they are), I could observe the artifact that I sensed here.

In my Sensor ability, it shined _bright._ And when I mean bright, it's like the god damned sun. It was—overwhelming. But the feeling I get from it—it feels familiar. Like it's mine, but at the same time, it's not.

I stopped at the middle of the room and kneel down. I brush through the dust at the floor, revealing the same markings that were on the doors.

 _What's with these people and the need for Aura sensitive doors?_ I almost grumbled it out loud, but I caught myself just in time.

After a moment of hesitation, I channel Aura into the ground.

The markings light up, crimson and blue. The ground rumbles and I stumbled backwards to avoid the possibility of the floor opening up. A pillar rises up in the middle of the room, covered in the markings the floor has. As the pillar rises, I'm filled with the same sense of familiarity that I felt in my senses. Except this time, it's right in front of me.

There.

The pillar stopped rising, and the ground stopped shaking. In the middle of the pillar, there was an open compartment with a glowing red and blue crystal.

"All that trouble for another Aura crystal?" I sighed, making for the crystal. "Fucking hell," but the moment I touched the crystal, I was assaulted by visions of _something._

 _A bus. Lights flashes and it honked. I freeze in the middle of the road, and I can feel it run over me as I scream out and shortly die._

 _Dark._

 _It was dark._

 _So I opened my eyes._

 _The moon was broken._

I shook my head to rid myself of those visions. I stared at the crystal now at my hands. _What the hell was that?_ Was it something important? Did the person who made this crystal imprint himself so much on it that memories started leaking through?

Or was it something else entirely?

 **Quest Updated: Soul Artifact**

 **Completed: Find the Artifact**

 **Defeat the final enemy**

Well, the problem with _that_ is finding the enemy—

There was a gurgle behind me, and I immediately store my new crystal in a separate pocket inside my cape and turn around, both swords already unsheathed. Behind me, there was a Grimm.

It was different.

Like the Ghoul, it was humanoid in shape. It had red eyes and a red haunting smile set on its face. It had actual hair—it was set on pigtails too! It was small in height, only about reaching to my chest. It looked like a normal little girl, if not for the fact that it was a Grimm.

Then its smile twisted.

It disappeared and reappeared in front of me— _such speed!—_ and punched me on the stomach.

Holy _shit!_

Before I was sent flying, it sent another punch to my chest. It _hurt_ , then it finished up with a kick to my chest and flipped backwards, sending me flying back, landing on the ground painfully as my Aura barely soaked up the damage.

 **-67 HP**

That combo took out 67 HP! I groaned as I nursed my head, opening a single eye to observe the little girl Grimm.

Above it was, surprise, a nametag.

 **Flandre**

 **The Vampire**

 **Special Boss**

Well with a title like that…

My Aura is slowly regenerating. It took more damage than my HP did—already, the Aura I regenerated from the crystals are gone. I take another one to help with my reserves and burst forward with a flash step.

When I was in front of her, the Grimm's smile turned flat a little. It turned its head towards me, and I initiated a flash strike to attack it.

Instead of the satisfying penetration, I hit the ground. The perk dissipated, and I glanced to my right to see the Grimm had dodged the attack. That either meant it can't take much hits, or it was simply that fast and was taunting me.

I twist towards it and initiate another flash strike. I got right in front of it before it jumped up to dodge me. I heard it growl. Energy built up above me, making my eyes widen as I flash stepped forward to avoid the attack.

Whatever it was, it _destroyed_ the place where I was at. I turned towards it, and it had another energy build up in the tip of its pointer finger, which it was _pointing right at me!_

Scarlet energy flew past me and into the wall, an explosion tearing up the room. I winced and rubbed my ears, barely ducking through a high kick that Flandre sent. It sent the kick down, and I was thrown to the floor. I rolled to the side and slashed at its leg with Dust, making it hiss and back away.

 **-20 HP**

The physical attacks don't do much damage. I grimaced and did an Aura Surge, eating away my Aura in exchange for some HP. The damage done was quickly gone as my Aura Surge healed the most recent injury.

I duck under a scarlet laser beam, idly noting that Flandre had started to fly.

I don't know _how_ she's flying. It had a pair of black twig like things that had some of the crystals I found in this cave hanging on it. It had the still oh so demonic smile on its face as it pointed at me again, sending a beam that I barely dodged.

I mean barely because I still got hit by the explosion. I yelped as the explosion touched my back, sending me forward, skidding at the ground. My Aura had once again, taken a huge hit, and my HP was the same.

 **-50 HP**

I was only a bit above 300 HP now. My Aura is lower than that, so I consume both of my remaining crystals to bring it up to at least 200. Glaring at Flandre, I set in a stance.

 _Flash Strike!_

I was just in range. I pierced through the vampire, dealing _some_ semblance of damage, since the thing growled. I glance back, and see that no actual wounds were dealt.

Unfortunately, I encountered a new thing.

 _It had a health bar._

It had 2 health bars, actually. I damaged the first one by a quarter with my cumulative moves, but the other one remained untouched. That meant that I had to break every single bar just to kill this thing.

I took in a deep breath.

 _Let's see if I can handle this. If I don't, I'm dead anyway so it doesn't matter._

 _Flash Strike!_ I pierced it again, making it growl, more annoyed this time. It curled into itself, and I could feel the energy build up from my position.

I tensed as it let loose a roar, beams of energy erupting from its chest. I duck under a stray beam and was sent flying back as a beam exploded in front of me.

 **-39 HP**

Now I'm a little bit below 300. I snarled as I dodge under a hail of small, scarlet orbs. The Grimm had a snarl set on its face instead of a smile, so it's pissed as well.

I don't attempt to cut the orbs, knowing that they would just explode as soon as I made contact. That meant I had to rely on dodging _all_ of the attacks, which was getting progressively difficult.

A beam hit me right in the chest and sent me flying back. Thankfully, it wasn't the one that came from the thing's fingertips. Instead of making me explode, it sent me several meters back and damaged me.

 **-53 HP**

I grimaced as I held my bruised chest. My Aura had taken another hit with that, and I'm not sure that my Aura can keep getting up from hits like these. It's already below half from all the hits I'm taking, and all the skills I'm using. I can't afford to use up my Aura in a tense situation like this.

Flandre sent a hail of orbs to me. I duck under one barrage and jumped over another. I used a wall of wind to _barely_ shield myself from a beam that attempted to hit me while I was in the air, and hit the ground running. I grazed a beam, grimacing as the wound was dealt and cauterized at the same time, barely stopping the need to scream.

In an uncharacteristic moment, I let loose a guttural battle cry as I executed a flash strike. I pierced its head, making it snap back as I passed through. Flandre roared in anger as its first HP bar disappeared and shattered.

It wasted no time sending multiple energy beams and orbs towards my way. My eyes widened and I flash stepped towards the ground, dodging the barrage.

I got no time to relax as suddenly, it was right in front of me, sending a fist to my stomach.

I barely dodge to the right, its fist flying past my stomach. My danger senses tingled, and I ducked under a laser from my left. I glance towards the right—and surprisingly enough, Flandre was there too.

 _What—!_ I got no time to be surprised as something hit me in the back with a lot of force, driving me forward.

 **-43 HP**

Well this is bad. I'm a little below 200 HP now and my Aura is dangerously dipping below 50. Now I _really_ can't afford to use most of my skills. I grimaced as I look at my enemy— _enemies._ There were 4 identical Flandre, of which 2 were flying, and the other two were barreling towards me.

I take hold of the Crystal Artifact.

Should I use it?

I have to think of the risks—wait nope, the Flandres were on me. Time to use it.

The Aura inside the crystal siphoned into me, and then everything turned white.

* * *

 _The moon was broken._

 _I was in a forest._

 _ **[Welcome to Remnant, Gamer]**_

 _Well that's just a bucket of fun, isn't it?_

" _Call my name…" a faint voice cried out._

 _The scene shifted._

 _It was me._

 _I was standing over a 7 headed hydra. A Grimm that was far out of the cities that it was almost unheard of by normal civilians, yet by all odds, it's right here._

 _About to kill a team of huntsmen._

 _It was gathering energy on one of its throat. I can't kill it fast enough._

 _I jumped down in front of them, my aura already working its magic._

 _I faced the Hydra and slammed my arms together to shield them all._

 _Aura constructed itself in front of me, into a giant shield with a peculiar symbol in the middle._

 _Just as the Hydra fired a beam of fire, I finished the shield._

 _The beam slammed into the shield, full force, but I didn't budge—I couldn't. There were people depending on me._

 _The beam died down, and I looked behind me._

 _They were… familiar._

 _No—not familiar. I know them. Summer, Taiyang, Raven, Qrow. What?_

 _Actually… who am I? This isn't me._

 _The man I was being asked them, "Who are you?"_

" _Team STRQ," Summer replied to me, eyes wide. "Thank you."_

 _The man I was copying grinned—I never grin. "Don't thank me yet," He pushed forward, still holding the shield. "Kill this thing first, then we can talk."_

" _Wait—why are you helping us?" Raven asked him suspiciously. "Who are you?"_

" _Me? I'm…" His voice fades out and the background fades with it._

 _Call my name…_

 _Call my name..!_

 _CALL MY NAME!_

 _I'm…_

* * *

The two Flandres were almost on me.

 _CALL MY NAME!_

I ignore the prompts that appeared after the whiteout.

Call his name…

I take a deep breath and hold my hand forward.

And like I've spoken it several times before, I speak the incantation.

" _Astralize: Hearts Kreutz!"_

Suddenly, my Aura _separated._ I don't know how to explain it. It was like I was suddenly split in half, but it was painless.

A man-shaped figure appeared in front of me, light blue Aura coloring its form. Then suddenly, it had color. Black hair, fair skin, a black jacket with gray sleeves, collar, and running down on its side, black pants, and black boots.

He looked like…

Me.

From my past life.

Except he's older, and has different clothes.

Strangely enough, I don't feel tired from astralizing him, either.

"Hey," He greeted me. I stood up beside him and notice that the 4 Flandres had stopped and were observing us from afar.

"Hello," I greeted back. I don't know how to talk to myself—if I should even talk to myself.

"You ready to kick some ass?" He gave me a lopsided grin, one I did not return. I gave him a deadpan stare.

"You're me, you know what I want."

And I was right.

He was me, and I was him. We both know what we want. Two sides of the same coin.

He grinned even further. "'Course I do," He started floating, his normal black eyes turning into light blue as he channeled his Aura. " _Infinite Arrows!"_

With those words, arrows of Aura formed around him. One by one, then by twos, then by tens. Then he shot them all.

The arrows were shot with incredible speed, several which hit nothing, and a few hitting their intended targets. The Flandres—vampires, as a common term—hissed as several arrows stuck on their flesh, trying to take them out.

The arrows stopped, however. "Arrows won't hold them off forever, go!" He commanded. I didn't have a snarky comment to snap at him, so I immediately dashed forward, brandishing Dust and Chamber.

I got close to one of the Flandres, who was still trying to pull out an Arrow (which was a stupid endeavor; they would disappear eventually, anyway). I channel Aura into Dust—where did I get this much Aura?—making it glow its signature green.

 _Flash Strike!_ I easily penetrate through the already weakened Grimm's flesh, making it lose its head when I executed the attack.

The other three vampires stopped what they were doing and set their attention to me. They all started floating up, and I couldn't help but step back.

They collectively gathered energy on a single point—right in the middle of them.

A laser of epic proportions. I grimaced, but then grinned as I remembered what they forgot…

I wasn't alone this time.

Just as they fired their laser, Hearts Kreutz appeared in front of me, his light blue gigantic rectangular shield raised and connected in front of him, blocking the attack.

The laser split and hit the wall behind us, showering us with rock. I grunt as one particular rock hit me in the head, making me rub the spot with the hand I'm using for Chamber.

Kreutz—that's what he wanted to be called—grunted as he slid back a bit, but it _worked._ If I had been alone, I would have been dead for sure. That laser was _huge_. His shield, even if it didn't block everything, blocked a fair amount of the attack without even anything to show for it. I smirked.

 _It's payback time, bitches._

When the laser died down, Kreutz brought the shield down and shot another smaller barrage of arrows towards the vampires. Weakened as they were, they resorted to dodging in between the arrows. They were focused on one thing, which I intended to exploit.

I dashed forward, weaving in between the arrows to avoid friendly fire, Dust glowing a bright green. I got in front of one of the vampires and brought Dust down on it.

The thing gurgled before stopping, becoming limp in front of me and starting to dissolve into black matter. I take off my sword from its head and duck from a stray laser that a Flandre sent me.

Oh, that wasn't a stray laser.

Kreutz had stopped shooting arrows and was engaging the other Flandre in ranged combat—that's to say, Aura spheres and arrows to the Flandre's lasers and orbs—which was frankly, quite pretty to look at. They were dodging in between the bullets, not yet getting hit by a single orb. I don't think he needs help yet.

I stared at my enemy, noticing its growls of anger at me. Taking a page from a certain black haired ninja avenger, I smirked at the vampire beckoned for it to come closer.

Surprisingly, it understood the gesture and barreled towards me in a speed which would make normal huntsman gape. In under a second, it made its way towards me and was already set for a downwards kick to my head.

I sidestepped, making the kick hit the ground and form a small crater. Undeterred, the enemy sent multiple punches to my side, a combo that I did not want to be hit by.

I flash step out of its target zone and bring Dust to my side. I thrust to the vampire's ribs, making its eyes narrow as it barely stumbles forward to dodge the attack. Chamber, however, was already on its way to attack its neck. In a surprising turn of events, it twisted until it got its head right in front of my sheath-sword and _bit._

It was holding back Chamber by biting it. I grimaced. That's gonna take a while to clean up.

Activating Dust, I slash at its chest, missing because it jumped back to avoid the hit. Channeling my semblance to the blade, I slash again, this time, hitting my mark and making its hiss in pain and annoyance.

It darted forward, a beam already charging at its finger tip. It fired it, making me duck as it got to me and punched down, making me gasp in pain as the earlier pains were reawakened.

 _Ah crap… HP and Aura were refilled… but the pain is still there!_

 **-38 HP**

Damn, that's annoying!

I roll to the side to avoid a downwards kick and flash step to the air, twisting to look down at my enemy. It was looking at me and charging another beam attack which seems stronger than the other ones, but if it thinks I'm not going to take advantage of it, then it has another thing coming for it.

 _Flash Strike!_ Especially with that perk. That perk is majestic.

I pierce downwards, my cone of wind tinted green, tearing its head off, the energy in its finger tips dispersing as it dies. It falls backwards, missing a head, and makes a _thud_ sound when it falls. It starts disintegrating, and I turn to my ally.

He was having a bit of trouble hitting his enemy, but I have a solution for it.

Switching Dust from Acid to Ice, I dash towards him.

I was behind the final Flandre, Dust raised up. It barely had time to dodge as I brought down my sword, making a slight gash on its back, ice growing out of the affected area. Not giving it a time to recover, I slammed my sword on the ground, Ice covering the floor and creeping up Flandre's legs, immobilizing it.

I flipped towards Kreutz, who was already charging an attack to shoot towards the enemy.

"Final attack," I told him, and he nods, charging even more Aura into it.

I help him channel some Aura and switch Dust from Ice mode to Acid mode, and channeled my Aura through that instead of my hands. Kreutz muttered something beneath his breath, which I barely heard from the hum of the massive orb of Aura in between his hands.

" _Final…_ " the light blue orb was tinted red and green now; the acid and my aura. I was feeling kind of tired at this point… " _Spark!"_

It shot off at supersonic speeds, heading towards the final Flandre, who was trying to get out of the Ice trap. It covered it completely, the beam heading towards a wall and penetrating it to God knows how deep.

I feel faint.

"Ooh…" I mumbled as I fell on my back.

"Oh sh…" Kreutz fumbled and grabbed me before slinging me over his shoulder. "Shouldn't have let you do that."

I was barely hanging on to consciousness, trying to hang on to at least talk to my other. "Th… Thank…"

He lightly bopped me on the head. "Shut up, I'm bringing you to Beacon."

"Y… You… know?"

"I'm you. Of course I know." He chuckled and adjusted me on his shoulder. "Don't worry, little me."

"Just relax."

* * *

 _ **A/N**_

 _ **Hello,**_

 _ **It's been 9, 10 days? And I haven't updated. Sorry.**_

 _ **On that note, I'm going to put a chapter progress on my profile so you guys can keep track if you're interested.**_

 _ **Aaaand onto the story!**_

 _ **Soo new stuff**_

 _ **Boosted SPECIALs are weaker than natural ones. While S – 7+2 is stronger than 8 by a little bit, it is far weaker than S – 9.**_

 _ **Skills scale with level rather than age, and SPECIALs scale with age rather than levels. So someone who is level 20 age 15 with 100 bladed melee will be beaten by someone who is level 25 age 15 with 100 bladed melee in a normal swordfight, not counting the strategies. SPECIALs were already explained a few chapters back iirc (Edited: messed up with the example here)**_

 _ **Ah, the special boss for this chapter, Flandre Scarlet. She's from Touhou Project, and if you actually know her power, you'd be glad I uber nerfed her to hell for the story.**_

 _ **Hearts Kreutz is a symbol from Fairy Tail, but the Hearts Kreutz, or just Kreutz, in this story, is not. It's just his name.**_

 _ **Speaking of, who is Hearts Kreutz? ;) Next chapter! I'm too lazy—er, I mean, the word count is already too big so I need to save some for next chapter.**_

 _ **Explanations next chapter.**_

 _ **Huh… Next chapter is going to be the last chapter of Crimson's experience to be Qrow's apprentice, though said uncle isn't shown in this chapter. I may do a QnA for the existing cast the chapter after the next because I feel nice.**_

 ** _Edit: Forgot about questions_**

 ** _Uhh, lemons might be a thing yes_**

 ** _The Japanese style seems cool, but I'd want Crimson to have his own style_**

 ** _Crimson vs. Adam? Uhh... ;)_**

 ** _Littlejason, some of your suggestions are great and I am going to think about some of themm_**

 _ **Aaaand… I think that's it.**_

 _ **This story is semi-serious, so don't take it too seriously**_

 _ **Take it with a grain of salt**_

 _ **Reviews are appreciated, but not necessary.**_


	7. Final Year

_A/Ns at the bottom of the chapter_

* * *

 _I don't own RWBY, Roosterteeth owns them_

 _I only own my OCs._

 _Or they own me… I can't seem to stop them from doing what they want._

* * *

 _Undetermined Location…_

* * *

A pale woman watches over her land. She sees her Grimm; special and lesser, mingle and form, feeling proud and yet disturbed at the same time.

She had, after all, just received news that one of her own creations; a vampire by the name of Flandre, had been killed in action, after all.

She wouldn't normally be very disturbed, no. Her creations died all the time. It was the _person_ that worried her.

A masked man. Inwardly, she cringed with disgust at his bastardized use of an Ursa mask. He had killed two other Grimm of her own creation; a powerful and old Nydus Worm she tried to sneak near Vale, and a exceptionally strong Aberration by the name of Vojk. They are _not_ pushovers, and are extremely hard to kill.

Vojk should have been fast enough to avoid every single attack that came behind him, and her Nydus Worm could not have died that fast, even if the enemy used Acid.

Her experiment—a man named Robert Rotten—had also been killed. Her experiment on the apples had failed to bear any good fruit as most of her subjects died. Imagine her surprise as Robert ingested the apple and _lived_.

It was not for long, however, as the same person killed him too.

The pale woman narrowed her eyes as she saw young Nevermores take to the sky, a single thought running across her head.

 _Crimson Branwen… I will kill you just like I did your predecessor. I will not take this slight lightly._

* * *

 _Undetermined Location… again._

* * *

It was pure white when I opened my eyes again. Light was everywhere, pervading my vision—but for some reason, didn't feel bright. I put my fist to my eyes and rub it to see if anything's wrong, but the moment I dropped my hand, nothing changed.

" _Agh… So bright,"_ I grumbled, pausing only to take note of the almost ethereal tone that should _not_ be in my voice. I was wearing the same clothes that I wore during my fight with the vampire, so I might not have gotten to Beacon after all.

" _Oh no, you_ did _get to Beacon."_ Another voice rang out, amused.

Recognizing the familiar voice, I just lazily turn my head towards his direction and wave. " _Hey there, Kreutz. Do you have an idea on where we are?_ " Frankly, I have a few ideas, but I wanted his opinion or knowledge on the matter.

His amused expression didn't drop, his eyes twinkling with mirth. " _I'm sure you already know,"_ He says mysteriously.

I take a shot in the dark with a guess. " _My soul? Mindscape?"_ I hedged. " _Or my soulscape?"_

Kreutz took a thinking pose as he sat down in front of me. " _Soulscape is a more accurate term of where we are, I suppose,"_ He conceded. " _We are, in essence, talking inside your soul. Well, our soul."_

I perk up at his added sentence. "Our _soul?"_

He slowly nodded. " _You—well, me. I got here earlier than you, then I died after 5 years. It was an okay life, I suppose."_

" _But that's impossible,"_ I argued. " _I can't have been you—I died then right after that I went right into the womb—"_

" _Do you believe in the multiverse theory? You should,"_ He began. " _We're the same person—but different at the same time. Same person, but different universes and experiences. It's something to think about, at least,"_ He trailed off at the last sentence.

" _I… see,"_ I barely do, but I don't tell him that since he probably already knows anyway. " _So… what was life before me like?_ _Who did you meet?"_

He shrugged and put a fist to his cheek. " _Well, I met your parents, your uncle, and your surrogate mom for one. They were on a mission as one team and I saved them. They were called Team—"_

" _STRQ, team STRQ,"_ I murmured softly. " _I saw that before I tried to Astralize you._ "

Kreutz smiled softly as he gained a faraway look in his eyes. " _Yeah… they were my first friends on this world—probably my best friends too. You can imagine what Qrow looked like when I brought you in Beacon. He was_ pissed _for, quote, 'making us think you were dead', unquote."_

I stifled a laugh. " _Did you tell them that you're just an astralization?"_ I _was_ a bit amused by the idea, even if I knew that the humor was a bit dark. Qrow must have been surprised to see a previously dead friend come back to life.

" _Nah, just winked at him and gave a cheeky smile before he saw you,"_ He pauses after that, then adds softly. " _He loves you, you know?"_

I genuinely smile. " _I know._ "

We spent a few minutes comfortably silent, thinking different thoughts.

" _Kreutz,"_ I began, drawing his attention. " _When you said 'our' soul, what did you mean?"_

He was quiet for awhile, looking up as he thought of what to answer. " _Essentially, we're the same person. Our souls merged—we're just temporarily separated because I still haven't deastralized."_

" _What do you mean our souls merged? And how did I astralize you in the first place?"_ I asked, confused. Frankly, I still had little idea of how I managed to summon his assistance, though helpful. Soul stuff wasn't really my cup of tea; I'm more focused on the combat applications of my semblance instead of the reincarnating problem.

My reincarnation stopped bothering me years ago. It's not like it was bothering me too much, anyway.

" _I mean it like we're merged. We're one person."_

… What?

" _But—how's that possible?"_ I gaped, my mouth hanging wide as he gave me a close eyed smile.

" _Beats me. My theory is that since we're the same person, you dragged me back to you when I died and you reincarnated. We might have done both at the same time. The odds are against it, but to be honest, with all the special Grimm we've seen and the things I know about our power… well, odds are the least of our worries."_

" _You talk as if the Gamer ability is dangerous,"_ I pointed it out. I noticed his grave expression, making me worried. " _Wait… is it?"_

" _Crimson,_ " He started slowly, emphasizing my name. " _Have you ever tried to consume a skill book_? _To use the inventory? To change classes?"_

I frowned. I tried to gather what was left of my knowledge of the Gamer ability, which were the skills (or as I know them right now, Perks), inventory, settings, and party.

All of them failed. No prompts came up when I said the keywords out loud or in my head; they just weren't available, even if the game wasn't expressly telling me that. It felt like the ability was _incomplete_ , as if I was missing puzzle pieces—and I was holding only a single piece.

" _Once or twice… why? They all failed,"_ I informed him even though his question was probably rhetorical. " _Is there something I'm missing here?_ "

" _I reckon not for long,"_ His voice was fading away, and the light room was turning dark. " _I'll see.. on… side."_ His form blinked away, bringing the room of light with it.

* * *

 _Beacon Infirmary, 16 years old, hours after the incident_

* * *

My eyes snap open, taking in the bright light and the cold mattress of Beacon's infirmary. I was, of course, wearing the hospital gown, my mask taken off and weapons nowhere to be seen. Typical.

There were still prompts from the fight before, and I don't sense anyone close behind the door. Kreutz seemed to be a bit farther away, though he was coming to here. There were two familiar Aura signatures with him; one I recognized as Qrow, the other as Ozpin.

Judging from their speed, I have a few minutes to check out these prompts.

 **Consuming the Soul Artifact granted the player the [Awakened] boost!**

 _ **The soul within… awakens.**_

 **Permanent +1 to Intelligence**

 **Permanent +1 to Charisma**

 **Permanent +1 to Perception**

 **Permanent x4 Aura**

 **Permanent x4 Aura Regeneration**

 **Permanent extra +10 Aura per level up**

 **Aura passives raised to 200%**

 **+1 level**

 **+Astralize**

Woah… that boost is broken. Now that the prompt mentioned it, I can feel the fuckton of Aura that I have. That explains why I had more Aura than what I was used to when I fought Flandre. That Soul Artifact was _really_ useful, though that's probably still an understatement.

I have 700 Aura right now—max. Since I got an extra level, have +10 more Aura when leveling up and had 330 Aura before I used the Artifact, that means I should have 1400 Aura, which is a _lot._ If I recall correctly, a normal Hunter in training can have 300 Aura, more or less, though it's just speculation on my part since I don't exactly have a skill that can Observe a person, something that bugs me even today.

I only speculated that from watching the spars on Beacon sometimes. The screens don't _quantify_ their Aura, but I compared my (previous) Aura to theirs, and mine either shined as bright or dwarfed the other's Aura.

In my Sensor trait, the brighter an Aura is, the denser and the more of it there is. That's mainly how I judged their Auras, but I _could_ be wrong. There's always room for error, after all.

 **Intelligence Check Success: 8/5**

Oh, ha ha. I haven't seen one of those in awhile, but apparently the _game_ decides it could be a smartass and do it in times like these.

I should probably just check the other ones before I get more annoyed.

 **SPECIAL skill earned: Quantified Soul (8 Intelligence)**

 **Player can now use skill points on Aura. 1 Point is 10 Aura Points, use your points wisely.**

… Huh. Well, that's something. A SPECIAL skill.

I don't have a lot of these. I have one skill from Strength, which was called **Shattering Mountains** , which essentially gave me more mastery as long on blunt weapons. I have two from Agility, the first one was called **Dancing Blades** , which gave me more mastery on Bladed Melee weaponslike Shattering Mountains, and the second one was called **Cutting Edge,** which gave me more mastery on Bladed Melee and gave me more damage and attack speed on any bladed weapon.

Both of them gave me boosts on skill mastery, but didn't give me extra values on the skills themselves.

So this is… odd.

 _Would getting 8 on Endurance give me the same SPECIAL skill for HP?_ I idly wondered, staring at the prompt. I have an extra 20 points that I could use. I had planned to use them all on Blunt Melee, but maybe I can make an exception and spend 10 on Aura and Blunt Melee instead.

 _Maybe later,_ I thought as I stared at the remaining prompts. Only a few left to read through, and I'm set.

 **Perk earned: Astralize**

 **Summons the being that resides in your soul.**

 **Halves Aura and Aura Regeneration when used.**

 **Time Limit: 3 Days when not using any Aura**

 **Astralized Beings do not have their own Aura regeneration unless player siphons their own Aura to it to prolong its time limit.**

Well that explains a little bit about the ability. Kreutz—I get it now, I think. We're the same person, since he's me from a different time (..?) and he lives in my soul. I could probably badger him when he gets here about it, but I'd rather not get into a contest of who can be the most vague in a sentence.

That time limit is crazy though—and I can extend it! This _could_ be useful as a spying tactic, but to be honest, I don't think I'd be able to use that ability any time soon.

Now, the next prompt.

 **Quest Completed: Soul Artifact**

 **Completed: Defeat the final enemy**

 **+26000 EXP**

 **+Infamy**

 _Well, I got a pretty solid reward there,_ I thought sarcastically. I got 26000 EXP, which is roughly the same as I got from the Robert Rotten fiasco, and infamy. I don't know _how_ or _why_ I got infamy, but it's there, and I doubt that it's a good sign.

As soon as I dismissed the prompt, the door to the infirmary came open, Kreutz in the middle of explaining his whereabouts to Qrow. "—telling you, I've been with you since I 'left'," the astralization smiled cheekily at his inside joke, making Qrow's eyes twitch.

"Kreutz, I ain't sure of what you're trying to tell me here, but what _I'm_ sure of is that I haven't seen your scrawny ass in years," Qrow retorts, then took a swig from his flask. "I'm not sure if this is some weird fever dream from drinking too much. If it is, I can probably solve it by drinking more."

"I'm not sure that's how it works, Qrow," Ozpin sips from his mug, staring at the two in front of him, amused. "But I can assure you, that Mister Kreutz is very much real."

"Not for long, I'm not!" Kreutz chirped. "I got to go, mom's calling," He grinned at the headmaster and Qrow, the first nodding in his direction, the second looking at him confusedly.

"What're you talkin' about—" Kreutz's form shattered into blue Aura, which seeped back into me. My max Aura went from 700 to 1400—just as I thought. I have 20 extra points, so I put 10 into Aura and 10 into Blunt Melee. My max Aura went from 1400 to 1500—my current Aura was a bit lower since Kreutz used a bunch during the fight, but it's already recovering rapidly. Much faster than before, at least.

Qrow's eyes bugged as it trailed the Aura to me, staring at my recovering form and the Aura that briefly surrounded me before disappearing.

"Kid," Qrow begins, preparing to take a huge swig from his flask. "What the _fuck_ was that?"

I shrugged. "I don't know. I asked him about it and he was a little vague about it," I take a glass of water from the desk to my right and gulp its contents down.

Ozpin hummed, took a chair, then sat down, staring at me. "How so?"

I thought about my answer. It's a little difficult to explain, but I manage to roughly do so. "When I passed out… after, well, fighting the Grimm inside a ruin I found near the Emerald Forest, he appeared inside my mindscape."

"A mindscape?" Intrigue is present in Ozpin's voice. I would be curious too if someone had a voice in their head. Though my curiosity would be something about why the person hasn't gone to the nearest mental institute yet.

"A mindscape, yeah, a representation of—" I was cut off by Qrow.

"Of one's mind or soul. Yeah, we know," He took a swig from his flask, expression grave and worried. _Why was he worried?_

"… he also told me something. Something about my ability being dangerous?" I asked nervously. "Or—well, not dangerous. He alluded it to me—see, he had the same ability, you know which Qrow—it's called—"

"Growth," I must have been confused and showing it, since Qrow elaborated on his answer. "Alright, kid. Tell me, what fairy tales have you head in your life?"

I pursed my lips. "To be frank, not a lot. I only know about the Maidens and the two brothers. Both of them seem like religious stuff that I'd rather not touch, though," I idly note that I've been more talkative since I got the permanent +1 CHARISMA, but it's not a bad thing, so I let it be. I noticed both of them have serious faces on. I paled.

Ozpin answered for me, his tone carrying a weight that I felt on my shoulders. "I see you've come to a conclusion," a coffee mug I hadn't seen him carry inside was suddenly to his lips, before he lowered it to continue his answer. "Yes, Mister Crimson, both of those _are_ real. Very, very real."

I stew in silence and thought about it. "So… four maidens have the power of nature on their side. Two gods existed to make mankind and a handful of abstract relics—"

"The relics are very much physical," Ozpin informed me. He took another sip from his mug and inclined his head towards me. "Four of them, scattered around the world, hidden to hide them from the prying eyes of those that would abuse them."

"Creation, Destruction, Knowledge, and Choice," Qrow ticked off the names. "Four relics of great power—gifts by the Gods before the left permanently."

"But… I don't see any of these applying to me," I held my head, trying to nurse the migraine that I know will come. "I mean, it's great that we have that much firepower right now—but, I don't see what it has to do with me."

I was worried. Scared. I don't know what these two were trying to tell me—if they were trying to warn me, scare me. But the knowledge that those two fairy tales were very much true left a bad taste in my mouth—and I have a very good idea of why they're just called fairy tales now.

"Alright, Crim," My uncle got a seat and reclined. He made a motion as if he was going to take a drink from his flask, but chose against it, setting it down on the desk. "Let me tell you about the Tale of the Four Travelers."

"Is four a holy number or something? The important stuff always seem to have four in them… four man teams, four maidens, four relics… four travelers?" I murmured below my breath. Ozpin coughed.

Qrow, however, either ignored my question or didn't hear it at all. "Once upon a time," he started with a tinge of sarcasm. "There were four travelers; no one knows where they came from, and why they came. They were from a far off land—only here to settle down peacefully."

"The first one was a man called Master. He was the master of a lot of arts; fighting or not. The second one was called Devourer, because he devoured knowledge and gained from it, supplementing his already great knowledge on the world; the third was the Armory, since no one saw him without a weapon; hidden or otherwise. The last one," Qrow glanced at me meaningfully. "was called Growth. He was called that for one thing only; whenever he fought a battle, he grew stronger exponentially. No one could stop him from growing, and there was no limit to his power. He was, undoubtedly, the most powerful of the four Travelers."

"They settled down peacefully in Sanus, hidden from the outside world. They were happy, for awhile. They were all friends. They did they fair share of work, helped each other out. But it wasn't to last," Qrow trailed off at the end, letting me to come to my own conclusion.

"Grimm," I said, my tone heavy.

Qrow nodded, continuing his story. "Grimm found them. They saw the work of humanity, and sought to destroy it. They destroyed the home of the Travelers while they were gone to do their own work, leaving before any of them got home. When they found their home destroyed, they were shocked and angered," Qrow took a sip from his flask and set it down again. "So they sought to find who destroyed their home, and destroy theirs in the process."

"That's… dark, for a fairy tale," I muttered. "I thought these stories were for children."

"It's less of a fairy tale and more of a legend," Qrow replied, stretching. "Stop interrupting and let me continue."

I snorted and listened closely, trying to look for a glass of water. There were none.

"The four Travelers traveled together again, looking for the Grimm that destroyed their home. They traveled the whole world; Sanus, Anima, and a brief time at Solitas. Eventually, they found the home of the Grimm; it was ancient and powerful. But they won, and came to their own home to rebuild it," Qrow took a swig from his flask this time, sighing contentedly as he put it down again. "To be honest, the ending seems bullshit."

"It really does," I agreed. "Every fairy tale's ending seems that way. It makes children think happily, at least."

"Yes," Ozpin started. "And happiness will keep away negativity, which, in turn, keeps away the creatures of Grimm," he takes a sip from his mug. _How much coffee does he have on that thing?_ "It fills children and the people around them with positivity, after all."

"Can't argue with that," I shrugged. It was a good reason to make blatantly false stories for children, but it gives people trouble differentiating which ones are true and which ones are not. I suppose it has some good in it, since it made the apparently very real story of the Maidens and the Relics fade into obscurity. "So… what makes you think I'm Growth?"

"Kid, you told me back when we started your apprenticeship. You played life like a game and you grew in power as you grew in 'levels'," he did air quotes at 'levels'. "That set off warning bells inside my head, so I told Oz here. Why did you think he allowed high level missions to come in so easily? It was so we could test your power—see if it was true."

"And it was," I murmured. "That's… clever, though a bit manipulative."

"But it worked," Ozpin had a glint in his eyes as he told me that. "You grew strong and skilled, and have feats that people double or _triple_ your age would have never achieved. You grew powerful."

"Great," I said sarcastically. "Now I just have to stop passing out once every year."

Ozpin chuckled and Qrow gained a smirk on his face. I take a deep breath and continue.

"So… why did you tell me all this? I could have gone years without knowing any of this—there'd be no risk of a security leak. Is there something I'm missing still?"

"Yeah," Qrow answered, his expression dark. "How would you feel if I told you the Grimm aren't as leaderless as they seemed?"

"Not really surprised—they're not mindless from my past encounters with them," I said distractedly. "So they have a leader that controls them all?"

"Not only controls them," Ozpin adds on. "She creates them, too."

I sighed. "And I'm guessing she has a huge interest on the three legends and wants them all for herself and you guys are part of a group that protects them all?" That last part was mostly a joke, but as with all my jokes, they went silent as my eyes went wide.

"Are you serious?" I asked incredulously. "You guys—you people protect people like… me?"

"Not necessarily people like you," Qrow explained. "We protect the world from people like you—people who'd use powers like yours to destroy. To kill people. The one we're fighting—the Queen, she's one of those people."

"Indeed," Ozpin nodded. "She has set the board, and we are the pieces."

My uncle sighed. "You and your damn chess analogies, Oz."

Ozpin just smiles. "I do try."

I mused over the topic. _If I fight with them, I get EXP. If I don't—I get EXP._

 _She controls the Grimm,_ A dark thought came over me, my expression changing into a resolved one.

Grimm put my family in danger—either directly, or indirectly. While there was no proof that the Grimm would disappear if the enemy dies, it would at least help. Maybe if she dies, there won't be any other powerful Grimm that would appear randomly.

I would never want to wish Flandre, or that large Nydus Worm, or even Vojk on my friends or enemies. They would have been terrifying to fight—utter hopelessness, the feeling of demise setting on your shoulders as you watch your attacks do nothing but tickle the enemy.

It was, after all, my feelings when I fought enemies that I barely defeated.

"So… you want me to fight," I said slowly, sitting up straighter.

"Not necessarily," Ozpin replied, tilting his head. "We want to keep you safe—hidden from the world."

"I won't take this sitting down, mister Ozpin," My intentions were set. I want to fight. "My predecessors fought the Grimm to avenge their new home—I'll fight to protect mine."

Ozpin smiled.

"I see," Ozpin took out a scroll and pressed a few things. I couldn't read it, since it was mirrored, but it didn't stop my surprise from showing after he told me his next words.

"Then I, Headmaster Ozpin, graduate you from Signal Academy and Beacon Academy, making you a Huntsman from this point forward. Congratulations, Crimson Branwen, for being one of the youngest Huntsman in the history of Remnant."

* * *

 _6 months after, 5 months before Beacon, 16 years old_

* * *

It's been 6 months since I became an official Huntsman. Since then, I've only got up by one level, only one, unfortunately. I used 5 points to bring up Blunt Melee to 90 then 15 to my Aura, bringing it from 1520 to 1670.

That's still a lot, actually. Much more than the average Huntsman, at least. It made spamming my skills a lot easier and more viable—so viable that I've combined my semblance and combo skills, which made some _very_ devastating mid-range attacks.

I also got a new trait that comes at every two levels—it's called **Toughness** , which required 5 Endurance and gave me 10% damage resistance. With how many times I've been thrown and punched around, I think it would be a good idea to invest in that perk.

That, with the added passive perk of having more Aura than HP which gave me 50% more damage resistance, would give me 60% max resistance on any damage. Frankly, it gives me a lot of relief since I really don't want to die that fast.

Nevertheless, when I became promoted, it raised a bunch of eyebrows at Vale's council. Thankfully, Ozpin managed to convince them that I was worth the promotion with a few records and kept my becoming a Huntsman quiet. A small part of me is happy at that—no paparazzi, no cameras, no trouble. If anyone doubts my title, I can always show them my scroll (Which also doubles as identification! What a useful device.) and make them see for themselves. If they _still_ don't believe it, I could just do a show of force and that usually quiets them down.

Not a lot of people question me though, since the Ursa Mask intimidates them. Probably. That, or my low charisma is still turning people off from talking to me.

Right now, though, I'm on a self-imposed mission. At the Residential District, there was apparently rumors of a man that could make things appear out of thin air. It was, at worst, a wild goose chase, but at best, Armory himself.

I had taken it to myself to try and warn the rest of the other Travelers, but not to turn them to my side. I don't know what they've been up to—or if they've even been awakened yet. But I'm not going to force them to fight the Queen—not when the risks are still so high.

I bit into an apple as I pretended to mess with my scroll. It was opened at the ContiNet browser, which was Remnant's version of the Internet. It was set on a website that _greatly_ resembles a certain 4 leafed messaging board back in Earth, and the memes that were in here were also _very_ similar to that back in Earth.

 _Maybe I should try to dip into Remnant's meme culture,_ I thought idly, before snorting. _Nah._ I scrolled through a few more pages, sipping milk from the flask that Qrow gave me when I got promoted into a Huntsman.

It was pretty much the same as his—except I don't fill mine with booze. I liked milk in my previous life, and that hasn't changed even now. There was either cold milk or hot milk inside my flask, though right now it's cold. It doesn't really matter—I like how it tastes.

I'm sitting inside a café, right by the window, observing an apartment building. The rumors led to this street, and there's only one apartment in here. It was a wild hope, but there was still hope. I sighed as I put the flask back into my cape.

Finally, the rumors came true. My ability confirmed it for me.

A man, at least 6 foot tall—two inches taller than me—came out of the apartment building. He had bright green hair and green eyes. He also had a tired look on his face and his hair had a bit of white on it, so he's probably _not_ young. He didn't _look_ particularly intimidating—but it's also 9 in the morning, so it might be just because of that. He was wearing a dark green t-shirt, black pants and some sneakers. The real kicker, however, was the nametag that was above him.

 **Venn Tori**

 **The Armory (Awakened)**

 **Traveler**

Well if _that_ didn't confirm anything, Qrow can kick me in the face.

I left a few lien on my table before going out. He hasn't noticed me yet and has started jogging. I slowly trail him, my eyes never leaving his form. I take another sip of milk from my flask and start jogging slowly, coming up behind him.

We jogged for a few more minutes, coming to a park. There was a forest to the left, and I have a feeling that he isn't as clueless as I think he is.

I slowed down and sat at a park bench, feigning tiredness. I sneak a peek at Venn and see him jogging towards the forest, not speeding up or slowing down.

So of course, I follow.

I creep through the trail he left, focusing on my Sensor ability. _That_ was also a factor that helped me prove that he was a Traveler. Around him were candles, while he was a friggin' bonfire. I'm tracking him easily just by following his burning Aura.

Oddly enough, he was going for 2 smaller Aura signatures, albeit both were of big size. Huntsman or student level, at least. I ran forward, intent on catching up.

I reach their general area, taking note of the surroundings. It was a clearing, and a clearly abandoned warehouse was in the middle of it. Vines grew on the side of the building, glass was shattered, and there were some holes in the wall. Overall, it looked like your typical ruined building.

Venn was already inside. I don't know what he was doing with the two Aura signatures inside, but it was clearly nothing violent… yet. There weren't any significant fluctuations in their Aura that signified any moves being thrown out, but I can't hope for that to be the case all the time.

 _I need to come closer,_ I might be able to hear any conversation they have if I'm inside. I scan the building, taking note of the holes in the walls. Seeing a decent sized hole, several feet from the ground, I make my way there.

I jump up, my boots not making a sound as I landed on stone on the warehouse's second floor. I faintly hear their echoing conversation as I sneak through the building.

"… don't need to do this, Roman," _Roman?_ Like, the upstart criminal? What's he doing here? "I will be perfectly fine."

"You don't understand, pops," Yeah, it's him alright. I can recognize that flamboyant voice anywhere. "She's _dangerous_. I can't—I won't refuse that offer. Not when we're the ones in line."

"I can protect myself!"

"Not when your sickness is giving you a problem!"

There seems to be a little family feud going on here… I'm close to them now, and I lean back against a railing to hear them talk more.

"I'm _fine,_ Roman. We can just run—I can protect us," Venn seemed to be desperate now. "We can't deal with those people—I thought you were going to stop stealing Dust!"

"Pops," Roman's voice was soft, a stark contrast to the frustrated one from awhile ago. "I know you care—I really do. But I can't just ignore this—she'll kill us all."

 _She?_ I mused. _Wonder if they're talking about a criminal… or the Queen._

 _I suppose it's time I make my presence known._ With those thoughts in my mind, I cleared my throat and stood up, making the three people— _woah, barely noticed the little girl there—_ tense up and look up at me.

"Hello," I greeted. Venn looked especially worried, if the way he was looking above my head was to be believed. The two others, Roman Torchwick and little ice cream girl, were tense and ready for a fight.

"Tori," I nodded to him.

"…" He nodded stiffly to me, making Roman gape.

"You _know_ this kid?" Roman points at me with his cane. _Red tip at the end. Gun?_

"No. He knows me, but I don't," Venn scowled up at me. "What do you want?"

"I don't want to fight," I try to settle the situation. Idly, I noted that the girl I'm seeing below there was still there—but the Aura was minimal, so it's an illusion. I can feel her running up some stairs and probably attack from behind. I'm not going to give her that chance. "I just need to talk."

"… Torchwick," Venn began, slowly walking outside. "Take Neo and hide inside. This fight may not be pretty."

"We can help—"

"This _isn't_ something you can help me with! Trust me," Venn looked at Roman with a pleading look in his eyes. "I don't want you kids to get hurt."

Roman scoffed and looked away, though he had a scowl on his face too. "Sentimental old man," the thief muttered as he looked for Neo—his friend.

I dropped down to his level and walked with Venn, my hands placed at the pockets of my pants. "So, Armory…"

"Growth," He greeted, though stiff. "What do you need?"

I don't speak for a bit, waiting for us to reach the outside. Venn pushes open the door and leaves, and I follow.

He stands several feet away from me, and I take a side opposite of his. He crosses his arms and raises a brow at me.

"Well?"

"I'm just here to warn you," I said quietly, careful to note that Roman and his friend was close by. "Someone is hunting fairy tales down."

He snorts and mutters. "As if I don't already know that."

"They're already moving and have succeeded on one," I said, making his eyes widen as he processes just exactly what I said.

"What—how? And who?"

"The Fall Maiden."

It takes a moment to sink in, but when it does, fear comes over his face, so easily readable that even _I_ caught on it. "T-the Fall Maiden?"

"Her power was stolen, I don't know who has it but—"

"I may have an idea," Venn said somberly. "A woman came here, offered Roman a deal—steal Dust for her, or we die. She—her powers, fire. And her Aura was familiar—but also dark. I don't know. It's hard to pinpoint exactly."

I slowly nodded. "What are you going to do?"

"I can't exactly stop Roman from not listening," he pointed out. "He's still one of the best thieves in Vale, and he's a good crook."

"You don't have to not obey," I told him, stretching a bit. My hand rested on Dust Chamber—I can feel a void of Aura coming closer. A Grimm, and a big one at that. "I just want you to be neutral—I'm not going to conscript you to fight against something like that."

Venn just nodded slowly. "Thank you for that—I just want to keep them safe. Is there anything else that—"

The ground shook.

I take a deep breath.

 _This would be the first time I would be fighting a special Grimm without the aid of a Named Quest,_ I thought, sighing. _That… makes it a little harder, actually._ _Without the quest, I have no idea what I'm fighting against._

The ground shook again, and my eyes hardened. I glance to my right and see Venn do the same thing. I don't see any weapons on him, but I don't doubt that he's the Armory for nothing.

From behind us, I hear Torchwick shout. "The hell is that? The ground started shaking!"

A huge lumbering form came into view, white exoskeleton coming into view.

It was…

"A giant spider," the Armory said flatly as he looked over his enemy. "We're fighting a giant spider."

And a giant it was. At around 50 or 70 feet tall, it easily dwarfed the stout warehouse, nonetheless _us_. It was pitch black in color, similar to all Grimm. It's main body was round, the top covered in exoskeleton, and the 8 limbs it has weren't covered in bone, but covered in fur instead. I narrowed my eyes and see the thing had a nametag on the top.

"You see that?" I point to it, letting Venn see it too. He groans.

 **Arachne**

 **Arachnid**

 **Special Boss**

"I really hate dealing with these," I muttered under my breath. I turn to him. "Get your kids out of here!"

"I can't leave you here alone!"

"I can't leave it _here_ alone! It's too close to Vale!" I paused and glared. "Come back when you've gotten the civilians away, I'll hold it back. Or kill it, hopefully."

He scowled. "Growth—you can't be that strong yet. I doubt that I could take it on my own, too."

I smirked. "Strength is nothing," with those words, I blurred away.

I faintly see him sigh and call out to Torchwick and Neo, and running for Vale. I was eye level with the spider, hearing it screech.

"Now…" I murmured, unsheathing Dust. Chamber won't be very useful here. "Let's see what you got."

 _Flash Strike!_

I flashed through its head, making it screech but doing little damage to it. One of the limbs came up with unbelievable speed and almost penetrated me, but I used flash strike to pierce past it.

The limb fell—but the main one was regenerating now.

 _I really hate regenerating Grimm,_ I groaned as I see the same thing I saw years ago—black blood forming on an invisible blueprint. The limb stabbed down on the ground and the spider screeched again. I scowled as it shot off white string— _I'm sure there's a lewd in there somewhere—_ at me, making me duck under the string.

The string… wasn't actually string. It has acidic properties, if I guessed right. The acid strings hit the tree behind me and _melted_ it.

Well then, guess it wouldn't be a special boss otherwise now, wouldn't it?

 _So this thing has three ways to kill me already,_ I thought as I watched it screech and push down more trees. Siren wail from the direction of Vale, so I'm sure they've already been alerted to the presence of the massive Grimm. Huntsmen would be dispatched, and I'd have backup with me.

 _I'm not sure if they can keep up with this thing's speed, though._ While it would be somewhat of a normal speed to me, it only looks like that because I'm faster myself. I purse my lips as I imagine several Huntsmen get caught off guard.

The worst part was that Qrow was out of Vale, and I'm not sure if the teachers in Beacon can get here in time. I don't trust students _not_ to get killed while I hold off this thing, and I'm also not sure if I can trust Venn to come back for me.

 _So…_ " _Astralize: Hearts Kreutz!_ "

I need a shield for my sword.

My Aura split in half, and I'm beside Kreutz. He was wearing the same clothes, hands in his pockets. He observed the giant Arachnid tearing up the forest and turned to look at me.

"How are we going to do this?" He asked, serious for once in his life.

"Frankly, I don't know. I can just leave it, but Glynda would kill me if I did," I grimaced. Well, she wouldn't _kill_ me, but I'd be berated by Glynda so it would be the same thing. "We have acidic string and sharp limbs. I'm not very sure on that fur on its legs—"

"Not fur," Kreutz corrected me as he squinted his eyes. "Spines. Those are spines."

I groaned. "Great. Then it has 4 ways to kill us—spines, limbs, string, and attrition. I don't trust myself to hold out against this thing."

Kreutz simply gets into a stance. "I'll provide long range support—you go in and try to cut off its legs. There has to be some way we can kill this thing."

"Its regeneration is slower to that of the Aberration," I agreed. It was _way_ slower, but unlike the Aberration, this one didn't have any cooldowns. It didn't stop attacking when I cut off its limbs, and it was way faster than it looked.

"Alright, I have an idea. Occupy it for me, Kreutz," He nods and I dash towards the Grimm.

During my dash, I see the giant Grimm stagger backwards as Kreutz peppers it with several explosive Aura arrows. The blue explosions make it stagger back, making it screech in anger and shoot out the acidic string towards the astralization.

Before the string could hit, a huge shield forms, blocking the attack and sending it to his sides. The trees around Kreutz melt as the shield collapses into itself, Kreutz panting a bit from the exhaustion.

I reach the underside of the spider Grimm—and I realized that yes, those _were_ spines—slicing off the bottom of one of its limbs. The spider screeched as it lost its balance for a bit, but the limb was already regenerating. It staggered backwards again as Kreutz peppers it with more arrows, making the ground shake as the spider tries to regain its balance.

The limb, at that point, had already regenerated. _It looks like it needs its legs a lot, obviously._ I siphon Aura to Kreutz so he can last longer, and I slash off another one of its limbs.

It finally noticed me under it and decided to take measures against me. Several thin limbs formed at its belly, all reaching for the ground. I paled.

I flip back as the tentacle things spear down at me, tearing up the ground I was in. I duck under a stray tentacle that found its way to me and slice off one that was getting too close for comfort. The spider staggers again as several arrows hit their mark, making it roar.

 _Where's its mask?_

I found my answer when a particularly accurate barrage of arrows hit the middle of the spider's body, unveiling a mask beneath a clump of black flesh. It didn't have a beak—or anything, really. It was just a mask, but the flesh was covering it up as it regenerated.

 _That's its weakness._

I stab Dust at the ground, raising a wall of ice in front of me, blocking the tentacles. I stab down again, freezing three of its limbs and rendering it semi-immobile. A barrage of arrows hits it again and it stumbles down, and I take the chance to slash off some of its limbs.

I slice down on one and throw myself to another one using my semblance. I flip in midair and slash down with Dust, cutting off the limb. Using my previous momentum, I pierce through another limb, and initiate a _Flash Strike_ to cut off another one.

I was going to go for the area where I knew the mask was, but several tentacles suddenly sprout from it. The Grimm screeched as tentacles formed a forest of protective limbs around it.

I parried a single tentacle— _those things are hard!—_ and flash stepped to the ground to avoid another one. I hop backwards as a clump of them strike the ground I was on, tearing up the earth. I siphon Aura to Kreutz to barrage the thing again—but the spider got the best of me this time.

One of its uncut limbs pushed up and made for a stab towards me. Thankfully—the Aura stopped it from piercing me completely. It still removed my HP, though.

 **-63 HP**

I hissed as my chest bruised from the attack. The stab made me fly back and hit a few trees and fall to the ground. That _hurt._

A barrage of arrows distracted the spider again, making It shoot back another barrage of acidic string. The arrows and string met in the middle of the air, making some pretty explosions in the air. I nurse my chest as I stand back up.

The Grimm had broken two of its legs out of the ice and was working on the third one with the help of its tentacles. I switch Dust from Ice to Gravity and rush forward.

The thing about Dust is it also works as a conduit for my semblance. It's a sword, and a wand. And I could get _very_ creative.

Could, is the keyword, of course. Never forget could.

I jump to the air, a bit above the spider's fallen form. Air circulates around me and forms a sphere on the point of Dust's blade. My sword glows purple as Gravity dust starts to leak into the winds, and I feel my Aura drop to below half in under a minute. I grimaced.

The spider broke out of the ice. The wind gathered at the tip of Dust is glowing purple now, and my reserves are at a quarter. The spider turns at me and screeches, firing a large beam of acidic string at me.

I fire my attack.

It was, in a fit of inspiration, a wind version of the _Final Spark_ move that I helped Kreutz fire. I learned pretty quickly that it would drain me _very_ quickly of Aura, so I resorted to using my Semblance instead. But—I also figured out a new problem. Using wind as a straight beam, it would lack the firepower that Final Spark had in spades—so I turned to Dust.

This was the result.

It was a directed tornado. The winds spiraled violently towards the gigantic spider, meeting the string in the middle. The gravity that came with the winds did its work and simply added the string into its "orbit", the string circling around the powerful tornado. The tornado-string combo hit the spider dead on, making it screech as it stumbled downwards. The winds exploded around it—and the string and gravity with it, making the spider fall down. I see some of its legs snap right off as it fell—making it screech even louder.

 _The bigger they are,_ I thought tiredly. I fall to the ground, tired and in a heap. I panted as I waited for my Aura to regenerate—thankfully, quite quickly. I'm at just below half reserves thanks to the quick regeneration, but if the thing comes back up again…

 _SKREE!_

Of course, it would.

I looked up with dread as the spider stood back up shakily, the flesh that melted from its own attack regenerating back. Kreutz had deastralized at one point—and my maximum Aura was back at 1670, but I am in little condition to fight with my heavy hitting techniques, which this spider needs. The spider screeched as I assume it glared at me with hatred.

My Aura is at halfway point—or if my Aura was still split, full, so it's at around 800 points. I don't think I can execute another **Crushing Vortex** so soon—and I doubt that the spider will take it sitting down. I bit my lip, trying to think of anything to kill it.

 _I can't just destroy the flesh around the mask—the tentacles would protect it. Even if I did manage to cut all of them down, the flesh is still a problem itself—I'd need a second man for this, and I don't think Kreutz can manage another constant barrage._ Despair was settling in my mind. The spider towered over me, its legs now spearing down to me.

I'm not going to die so easily, even if I think this is a hopeless battle. I can still fight—I just don't have anything to kill it with. I _will_ hold this position.

I was about to _flash step_ back, but it looks like I didn't have to. Several steel… spears(?) hit the spider in its main body, making it flinch back as the spears _exploded._ Someone jumped beside me, his Aura feeling like a bonfire.

"Venn," I smirked tiredly. "Looks like you _did_ come back after all."

He scoffed. "I couldn't just let a kid fight a monster all by himself now, can I?" Several metal bars appeared around him—then they weren't metal bars. My brows rose when the metal bars became the same thin metal spears that I saw, and I felt it—Aura, coming to the spears, overflowing… unstable.

"What is that—" I didn't get to finish as the spears flew forward, sinking into the flesh of the Arachnid and exploding once again. The flesh gets damaged, its regeneration already kicking in. He glances at me and smirks.

"Surprised?"

"How did you do that?" I asked, curious. While I know that this wasn't the time, I couldn't help myself.

The fact that the spider is getting kicked while its down also helps morale, but I like to think it's because I'm good enough that I can afford to speak while in a combat situation.

He shrugged, producing several other metal bars out of thin air. "I'm the Armory—I always have these with me. The Armory is like—"

"An inventory," I muttered, loud enough that he could hear. "That's… actually pretty neat."

He nods in agreement. Several more spears form behind him and shoots forward, exploding on contact. "And my semblance is Ferrokinesis. The ability to mold and control metal," to prove his point, a metal bar was shaped into a sword then thrown to the spider, exploding in contact again. The spider screeched in pain, its tentacles writhing in agony.

"And they explode when you overload them with Aura," I concluded, my eyes not leaving the monster. "That's a good way to use both abilities," I confessed, hand on Dust. "But why are you telling me this?"

Venn simply smiles at me and sends another wave of spears towards the spider. "When I saw you fighting the spider—you went with everything you had. You could have just ran away, like I intended to. I admit—I'm a… coward, but you stood your ground," he clenched his fists, his hair shadowing his eyes. "I… admired your resolve. I see the good in you, you can say." His eyes flashed to a steel silver color, before flashing back to its normal green. "And like I said earlier; I'd be damned if I let you just fight this alone," with that, he grinned at me, his eyes twinkling. "So, sir Growth, do you want to fight together?"

I smirked.

"Let's go, Armory."

I dashed forward, Dust in hand. My Aura is 3/4ths full at this point—and I was ready to fight again.

A wave of swords hit the spider again, exploding in contact. It tore up the flesh of the spider Grimm, making it screech as it regenerated again. It stood on all 8 legs now—the earlier snapped up legs fully healed. My sword glows an eerie green as the Acid dust works its magic.

I set myself in a stance in front of the spider. The tentacles have already spotted me and are pushing right for me, but I don't waver. Instead, I mutter one of my favorite skills' name.

" _Atom,"_ My sword glowing green, it moves faster than most can see. I, at one point, had combined it with Wind Blade, making it a long range or close range attack—at this range, it would tear up every tentacle that got too close.

And tear them up it did. The winds, tinged with green from Dust, tore the tentacles apart, the 12 hit combo moving faster than the tentacles. The Wind Blades hit the spider in the underbelly, making the spider hiss and screech as the flesh boiled and melted from the acid.

Several spears come into contact with its face area, the flesh in there being shredded apart. I jumped up, intent to take the advantage.

" _Atom,"_ I executed the long range combo again, winds coated by acid. But instead of tearing right through the tentacles—they instead try to slow down the winds. By putting as much disposable flesh right in its way as much as possible.

It works—kind of. My wind blades tore right through the tentacles, making the Arachnid screech and raise up on of its legs to hit me down, which made me parry the attack with Chamber. The attack still had a bit of force on it, however, as I was knocked down to the ground, making a small crater form.

 **-21 HP**

Ouch.

The Wind Blades, however, had done their duty. A noticeably small but deep gash appeared on the Grimm's huge mask, and it was pretty pissed if its screeches were to be believed.

I idly note that the spider had stopped regenerating its fallen tentacles. It was still on its 8 legs, and the flesh on its main body hadn't been slashed apart yet. But we didn't have to worry about that instead—since the spider…

Well, this was something.

The spider released something black from behind it. _Did it shit itself?_ I thought, bemused, until the black blob exploded into little, smaller spider Grimm, making me pale.

 _What?!_ There were dozens—could be going into the hundreds—of the mini spiders. I only say mini relative to the giant Arachnid—these were at least as big as a man!

I activate Chamber fully and wield the two swords together. One of the spiders came close, but I was already on the attack. I slash off one of its legs and stab its head from below with Dust, killing it quickly.

I tore Dust off its dying body and went to my next target, slashing off one spider's head with Chamber and stabbing another one with Dust. I retrieve both swords quickly and slashed upwards, cutting a spider in half and thrust Dust towards another, stabbing it in the chest. I quickly finish it off with Chamber, cutting of its head.

A hail of spears fell right in the middle of the spider hoard, disintegrating a lot of the Grimm. The spiders screeched as they looked up the trees, and there I see Venn producing more spears and throwing them down as soon as they formed. Sweat lined his brow as he produced more spears. He glanced at me and shouted. "Go! Kill the giant!"

I nodded at him and dashed forward.

" _Atom!"_ The long range combo cleared a path in front of me, tearing the newly formed spider Grimm apart. Several body parts were scattered around the battle field, the once tree filled forest now only filled with trunks, disintegrating bodies, craters, and deep gashes on the ground.

 _RNF is going to kill me,_ I thought dryly. RNF was the Remnant's Nature Fund, which was essentially a global group that takes donations for natural causes. A nature loving lot—nothing really wrong with them, but some of them take loving nature to the extreme.

A spider Grimm screeched in front of me, but I don't let it bother me. I jump up and land on its head. It stops its screech as the weight settles on its head, and I use it to boost myself up, burying the spider's head in the ground and killing it.

I'm face level with the giant Arachnid now. It's still spawning those black blobs—smaller spider Grimm, sorry—and doesn't look to be moving anytime soon.

 _Better make sure it stays that way._

I fall down, the air around me forming a cone like shape as I change Dust's dust (heh) to Ice. The cone around me is tinged cyan now—and my sword with it.

I slam Dust to the ground, executing a Wind Shockwave. The cone around me expands and explodes, coating the spider's legs with ice. The Wind Shockwave caused the ground to be covered in Ice, the ice spreading up to the spider's legs, rendering it completely immobile.

The giant spider screeched. Good news, it had stopped spawning those tiny spiders. The explosions in the distance is becoming much, much more closer and it fills me with more and more joy as I imagine them kill more and more of the spiders. Bad news, it has its attention on me.

Since it stopped spawning, it had its regeneration factor back again. I grimaced as I hopped back as the newly regenerated tentacles took a stab at me with their full speed. Some of the tentacles got buried in the ground while the rest took a turn and went for me.

I flash stepped to the side as the tentacles passed by and slashed down, cutting off the tentacles. They were already regenerating, but I don't stop to look. I hop up and catch a spear that came close.

I glance at Venn and see him occupied with the spiders. He leaned back from a stab and kicked up to send the offender to the air. A spear formed in front of him and pierced the spider in the chest, killing it. He saw me looking at him and looked at the spear in my hands and nodded.

"Make it count!"

I will.

I dashed for the face area of the spider Grimm. A tentacle grazed my cheek, making me grimace, and rolled under a barrage of tentacles. As soon as I got up, I jumped up, landing on the tentacles that impaled the ground I was on, running up to its face.

I channel Aura through the spear as I run, dodging the tentacles as I did.

 _10%_

I duck under a wave of tentacles and use Dust to cut a stray tentacle that got too close for comfort. The tentacles below me began to move rapidly and shake, making me almost fall off.

 _40%_

A leg got too close. It impaled the writhing clump of tentacles below me, making the spider monster screech as it injured itself. Dust glows green as I channel Aura through it, too, and slice off the leg. The spider makes another screech of pain, its tentacles now going for me faster.

 _90%_

I jump up as the tentacles got to my position, using my semblance to control the wind below me to push myself up. It was a bastardized version of flying—it's not any good, but it works. The tentacles rush up to meet me in the air, and I reply in kind. The spear in my hand glows a crimson hue as I cut off tentacles left and right.

 _150%_

Now.

" _Atom!_ " I executed another long range combo, the wind slashes tearing through the Grimm's tentacles and into the flesh wall that was its face, making deep gashes appear on its face for a while before regenerating. The spear in my hands glowed a bright crimson, before I threw it with all my strength to its face.

The spear _exploded_ with a crimson tinge. The spider screeched louder as it stumbled backwards, the flesh in its face being disintegrated. The smoke cleared and revealed its giant mask—and I take advantage of it.

" _Flash Strike!_ " I execute the skill, and I pierce through its mask. It howled in pain as I did so, the regenerating flesh coming to a stop. I was buried deep inside it now, right in its head too. I flash step out and execute a combo.

" _Sword's Song!_ " the 18 hit combo also received the Wind Blade upgrade Atom did, and since my reserves grew a lot, its area of effect also grew.

A lot.

The slashes tore the mask apart. Slashes were seen on its mask as it fell apart, the spider finally falling limp and falling down. I land relatively peacefully, stumbling as the ground shook when the spider fell. I buried Dust on the ground as I watched the spider fall in satisfaction, a smirk on my face as it falls.

Venn was right beside me in a moment. He snorted as he watched the spider collapse and dissolve into black matter. "You kids and your flashy kills," though he spoke with a certain fondness, as if he was willing to experience it again. "Growth—"

"Crimson," I interrupt him. "Crimson Branwen. I trust you enough now, Venn. I hope you'll have my back in the coming years."

He smiled and chuckled. "Don't worry, Crimson," He said my name slowly, as if he was testing it out. "I'll have your back."

I hear Bullheads coming in, and several smaller airships with media crews. The Bullheads land around the new clearing filled with craters and gashes on the earth. The paparazzi landed and Huntsmen fell off the Bullhead to form a perimeter, stopping the paparazzi from approaching.

Venn had ran off when the paparazzi appeared, so I don't know where he is. I, however, didn't get to hide myself in time. Several people had already taken a picture of me and some had probably already televised the falling of the spider. I stifled a groan. _Keep low, he says. What do I do? Fuck._

"Sir—"

"Are you the Masked Huntsman—"

"How did you kill the massive—"

I didn't listen to them ask me questions, since I had already fixed my eyes on a single Bullhead that had a familiar blonde huntress on board.

She was glaring right at me.

I take a deep breath, and ready myself for the berating that's going to happen today.

 _Well, at least I got a lot of EXP for this, God knows it's going to help me cheer up, at least._

* * *

 _Patch_

* * *

"— _it has been theorized that the Masked Huntsman is responsible for the newly dubbed Giant Arachnid. It has also been theorized that this was the same huntsman responsible for the death of notorious criminal Robert Rotten."_

"Wow…" Ruby said under her breath as she watches the video recording of the spider falling. The red caped huntsman had torn the mask apart and fell down on the ground without much trouble. She held her own cape tight as her imagination took hold of her. "That's so _cool!_ "

Even Yang herself had been struck speechless. "No way—he did that on his own? That's… awesome."

Pictures were then shown on the screen, and Yang and Ruby squint as they try to recognize the huntsman. Recognition clicked in Ruby's head as she points it out.

"That's the guy from the docks! Two years ago! He also got on the news, remember?" Ruby pointed out to Yang excitedly. Her hands were shaking with excitement as she pointed at the masked man.

"Yeah…" Yang squints as she tries to recognize him. "Yeah, so he is. He still seems familiar, though…"

Ruby, however, didn't seem to catch the second part of her sentence. "Oh my gosh! What if he's a hero from a super secret organization that protects Vale! Ooooh, _this_ is why I want to become a Huntress," her eyes were sparkling. "I want to be a hero just like that!"

Yang laughed and ruffled her sister's hair, making Ruby pout at her. "Calm down, little sis, I bet you'll be killing giant Grimm in no time!"

Little did they know, that those words were true.

* * *

 _Undetermined Location_

* * *

The pale woman watched over her land, her eyes not leaving the form of a certain creation. She watched it form, taking shape of a man. A human, to be specific. Her eyes narrowed as she concentrated on forming the body, and then—

"My Lady?" A voice calls out. Her concentration breaks, and the black liquid splashes back to the ground. Salem sighed, irritated, and turns around.

It was Cinder Fall, a young woman that had done her proud in the past year. She was wearing her signature red dress with Dust weavings on the sleeves. Right now, however, she was holding a scroll showing a very distinctive footage of a young man killing a giant Grimm.

"I see," _So, the young Growth has killed another of my creations again,_ She thought darkly. "Leave me, Cinder. I will deal with this… delicate matter," Truthfully, Arachne was going to be her card at dealing with Ozpin's new toy. But it looks like that it's not the only thing that the dusty wizard is hiding.

 _This will be… an interesting year._

* * *

 _A week before Beacon starts, 17 years old_

* * *

I sit on a park bench, my mask off for once. I wasn't wearing my typical combat outfit—instead, opting to wear a casual red shirt and black pants with sneakers. I was, after all, on my 'day off', which Ozpin insisted I take after all the missions I took.

It's not my fault I wanted to level up—and to be fair, I did. Once. 10 points went right into Blunt Melee to max it and the rest went into Aura.

 _Wonder where I should spend the rest of my points,_ I thought idly as my legs kicked up and down. I was, for the lack of words, utterly bored. Usually, I was out in the field, killing Grimm or infiltrating known criminal groups, so this was… a boring change of pace.

 _Or, I could go back to Patch to tell Dad I'm a huntsman now,_ I paused.

Oh shit, I haven't actually told him yet, have I?

Well that's going to be a problem, I thought dryly as I stood up.

My scroll vibrated, signifying a message. I took it from my pocket and opened it, seeing the notification.

 _Come to VPD. Important._ It was from Ozpin. I stretched, the satisfying popping sound making me sigh.

Well, I suppose there _is_ something to do now. It's better than nothing.

And so, I jump to the nearest building, and start to run and jump for the Vale Police Department.

* * *

 _Prequel Arc: End!_

* * *

 _ **A/N**_

 _ **Hello**_

 _ **I think I've been reduced to weekly updates now, :c**_

 _ **This is 11k words long, I may need to shorten it**_

 _ **Next chapters could actually be shorter fyi. Could, is the keyword, as Crimson says. Could is always the keyword.**_

 _ **I am going to suffer since I can barely write dialogue and keep in character. I like to write fight scenes more, but I don't think I'm that good with them since it feels more like a tell than a show.**_

 _ **Aaaand onto the story!**_

 _ **The Four Travelers—all of them, at one point, will make an appearance in the story. Venn Tory is the oldest Traveler at 54 years old. Wonder what his backstory is ;)?**_

 _ **Hearts Kreutz is a part of Crimson! Gasp. Surprise. Woah.**_

 _ **If anyone is still confused, it's like Ozpin and Oscar except they're fully synced.**_

 _ **Roman and Neo aren't completely evil in this fic! I feel like they're also not completely evil in the show, but eh.**_

 _ **Quantified Soul! Yeeeah, broken SPECIAL skill, but that's kind of the point of the Gamer ability.**_

" _ **Your power is broken," Qrow had said at chapter 3 or something.**_

 _ **It is.**_

 _ **The Awakened Boost!**_

 _ **Okay, here's where things get a bit weird.**_

 _ **The quantity of Aura varies between each person—it's not something that can be easily trained. E.G. a student might have more Aura than a Huntsman.**_

 _ **I would say Yang has 600-800 Aura on her, since she can tank so many heavy hits. Ruby, however, would have around 200-400, since she doesn't need that much Aura on her.**_

 _ **A fully awakened maiden would have a fuckton more Aura than that, and the rest of the Travelers also have an innate gift of having a fuckton more Aura than that as well, with the exception of Growth, since he/she always needs to bring it up to snuff.**_

 _ **Yes, every Growth has the [Gamer] ability, if some a bit different than others.**_

 _ **Venn Tori! New OC, but sadly, only a minor character that will appear from time to time. I had a hard time writing him since I'm not a very heroic person—then I realized I don't have to make him heroic since he's affiliated with Torchwick.**_

 _ **Yes, his name is a pun.**_

 _ **His powers—Ferrokinesis and the Armory (or inventory, to the normal people)—go really well together, wouldn't you say?**_

 _ **He's like Shirou :o (That's the point :v)**_

 _ **Honestly have no idea if I got the characters right, so please tell me if I did anything badly. I honestly need to know if I'm doing good or bad since I can't tell myself.**_

 _ **Aaaaand… reviews**_

 _ **Yes, I'm still writing this Guest!**_

 _ **Aaand.. a different Guest! The vs. Pyrrha or Cinder weeelllll—wink wink nudge nudge**_

 _ **If I paired Crimson with Touhou I'd need to make this a complete crossover—I don't intend to do that since I want to mostly keep it RWBY in characters. I don't want to add characters from other shows or games, sorry.**_

 _ **Pairing with Penny! Welp- *hiding robot fanfiction***_

 _ **Aaand announcement!**_

 _ **Since this is the end of the Arc (Not Jaune!), I will make a QnA segment at the end of the chapter for the current existing characters and even me, the author. No, I will not make it a script format, but instead, make it an interlude with the characters in a blank room or something.**_

 _ **Limits for questions: Nothing! Go wild. (I feel like I'm going to regret this)**_

 _ **Anyway… I think that's about it!**_

 _ **Take the story with a grain of salt**_

 _ **Story is semi-serious, so don't take it too seriously**_

 _ **Reviews are appreciated, but not necessary**_


	8. In Vale

_A/Ns at the bottom of the chapter_

* * *

 _RoosterTeeth owns RWBY_

 _I own my OCs_

 _And Crimson owns Dust Chamber_

 _Now that we're done stating the obvious…_

* * *

 _A week before Beacon, 17 years old_

* * *

My cape flutters as I jump from building to building, my eyes set on the shining lights of the commercial district. The message that Ozpin sent me came around 2 minutes ago—meaning I'm already probably late. It doesn't matter at this point, anyway. I'm close now.

I land at the sidewalk without a sound, surprising a few civilians beside me, one even yelping in surprise. Another one mumbled something about 'annoying parkouring kids', which mostly went ignored by me.

My casual clothes are a bit ruffled from my hopping session. My cape, of course, remains strapped to my neck. While it holds much memories—a few of them from my times with Qrow, and a few from my surrogate mother, Summer—it also doubles as an extra pocket. I think I have my milk flask inside there somewhere—and a handful of Dust crystals and chocolate bars. They're not very heavy, so I mostly forget.

I pull out my scroll and hum casually as I flick it open, swiping through the meager applications on my scroll and into the music app. The music in Remnant wasn't that different from Earth—electric guitars, stuff like that. The majority of the songs sound like pop and mostly positive music, which I guess makes sense, since the Grimm would trample a concert if emos were singing it.

The music app opens without much trouble, already displaying my downloaded playlist. I sift through my songs and land to one that I want to listen to. I connect my dark red wireless headphones to my scroll and play the song, bobbing my head as the opening starts to play.

I casually walk through the commercial district, looking for the police station. Frankly—I forgot where it was, and was just going to ask a certain old man where it is. A crossroad comes up in my vision, and the familiar shop, Dust 'Till Dawn, with it.

It was not, however, looking good. The display glass was shattered and there were police cars on the scene. The old man was nowhere to be seen, so I walk up to the closest officer and tap him in the shoulder.

He was holding a notepad when I tapped him in the shoulder. He didn't respond, taking notes and peeking at the robbed dust shop. I tapped him twice, and he sighs irritably, turning around at me with an annoyed look in his eyes. "What?"

I switch apps from music to my identification on my scroll and show it to him. The music continues to play, thankfully. His eyes go wide and any further protests were gone as his expression turned pleasant as he sucked up to me.

Frankly, the police here were suck ups to the Huntsmen. Huntsmen have a good word within the Vale Police Department—a single recommendation from a huntsman could get you a promotion, last I heard. So this wasn't a surprise. "What can I do for you, sir?"

I take off my headphones and let it hang on my neck. I tilted my head towards the dust shop. "What happened over here?" I was a little worried about the old man. He was running quite a few businesses already, and he ran one of the best Dust shops in Vale. It would be a shame if he died—I don't think my bank account could take that hit quite well.

"Robbery, sir," the officer reported, his posture rigid as he did so. "Roman Torchwick was seen robbing this place with a handful of goons."

"Did they succeed?" Ah, so it was Roman. News around Vale says that he's been stepping up his robberies, more and more Dust being stolen from under the people's noses. I would know. The prices are above the roof. I eye the damages done to the shop. "And did something happen while he was doing the robbery?"

"Uh, yes and no, sir," I resist the urge to snort. This guy—probably twice my age—is kissing my ass so much 'cause he wants to be promoted. I really feel bad of taking advantage of the officer's state of mind, but I don't really care at the same time. "Torchwick succeeded to take some of the dust. They couldn't take all of it since a vigilante stopped them."

I nodded slowly. "A vigilante?"

The officer elaborates. "A small girl, has a black dress and red cape. She has a scythe as a weapon, so we think she's a huntress in training," Her weapon piqued my interest. My eyebrows quirked as I asked him one simple question.

"What color were her eyes?" I focused on the officer, making him gulp as he answered.

"S-silver," Ah, so it was Ruby. A small surge of pride found itself to my heart.

"Where is she now?" I asked, much more politely this time. The officer took a deep breath and just pointed in a certain direction.

"She's on the Vale Police Department, sir," He replies. "I think someone came to talk to her, but I'm not sure."

I nodded. That was probably Ozpin, and probably the reason he called me here. "I see. Thank you, officer, ah…?"

"Bright, sir. Officer Bright," The officer introduced himself as he stood straighter.

I nodded politely and turn to the direction of the police station, waving to him from behind as I walk casually to the police station, then shoving my hands in my pockets.

 _So… Ruby's involved in this, huh?_ I mused. _That's interesting. I wonder what Ozpin wants from her?_

I had a few ideas, one being moved up to Beacon, which is the most likely one, and the least likely one of asking her if she knew what her silver eyes entailed. To be frank, I've no idea on the last one either, I just know that they're special, and that super mom (Summer) had them too.

I hum lightly as I walk, scanning the surrounding area for any noticeable people or vehicles. There weren't any special cars—so Ozpin might have been here on a walk (which is rare) or went here himself on a Bullhead (which is crazy and stupid and noticeable).

He _might_ have gotten here via airship, but those are slow as hell.

Then again, why am I presuming that he got here as quick as Ruby did? For all that I know, he could have been taking a trip to Vale when he got called in for a special case.

Shrugging, I stop thinking about the situation and go inside the Police Department.

The atmosphere inside was… not what I expected. It was tense—the tension was in the air, so thick that even _I_ noticed it. People glanced left and right and there were several stressed officers running around with papers in their hands, a few young recruits following with coffee in their hands. It looked like a typical office situation, except I knew these people worked on the law department and officers running around like headless chickens was not a good sign.

 _Roman is doing a really good job of running the city aground,_ I thought idly. While I could make these people's jobs easier by telling them the lodging of a certain Torchwick, I also had a friend in Venn, and by extension, Roman. I told them I'd try to get them out of their situation, and I'm not going to back out any time soon.

Probably. Unless they hurt my family—then I hurt them back, with a lot of interest.

I hum quietly as I walk up to the front desk. The person manning the desk was busy with something on her screen, typing away and squinting at it. She yawned a bit, adjusting her glasses and taking a sip from the glass of water next to her, and still hasn't noticed me yet.

I cleared my throat, and she looked up at me, startled. "Oh—ah, yes?" Damn, these people were overworked… or I'm missing something here.

"Is Headmaster Ozpin here?" I asked, tone polite. "He called me in on something important."

She blinked and pressed a few keys on her keyboard. "He's busy right now—he's, ah, interrogating the vigilante we caught—" I flashed my identification to her, and she blinks again.

"Ah, nevermind. He's on the interrogation room—take a left from here and then a right. It should be labeled," with those words, she went back to her work and ignored me again.

I say my thanks and follow her directions. I pass by a few officers who were rushing about, and a few that were just chilling. Some of the officers here looked older—veterans, and others were recruits. A few glanced my way and surveyed me up and down, but no one made a move to stop me.

I take a right and keep walking. The officers here seemed to be more relaxed, though I don't know wh—oh, never mind. The break room is on the left, so I suppose that's why. I strolled by without a second glance and, just as the receptionist said, see the interrogation room.

I don't hear them from outside the room, so I imagine that there wasn't any trouble. The guards that were stationed just out the door weren't tense too, so they didn't see the captive—or in this case, Ruby—to be dangerous or hostile, so I guess she didn't resist.

I walk up to the guards, one of them holding up a hand to stop me. "We can't let you in here, kid. Sorry."

I shake my head. "Sorry, I'm requested inside. Huntsman business."

The other guard snorted and chuckled derisively. "You? A huntsman? You look like you can barely—" I show him my scroll— _I'm using my identification a lot today—_ and his words trailed off to a nervous laugh. "Ah.. ha ha… you look like you can barely lose! Yeah," The other guard just sighed and backed off.

"Sorry for holding you up, sir," the first guard apologized and glared at the disrespectful one, who was mumbling under his breath while looking down. I nodded at him and pushed the door open, taking note of the cut off words that I heard.

"Ruby Rose…" Ozpin started. I froze when I heard him. He looked like he just got inside—with a plate of cookies and a glass of warm milk. The moment I opened the door, Glynda— _oh hi there, miss Goodwitch_ —turned her glare at me, and Ozpin took a glance at me.

Ruby, who was now wearing a red cape with a long sleeved black blouse with a high collar and red trim. Probably wearing a combat skirt of the same color scheme—but I can't see below her since she's sitting down.

 _She's grown,_ a surge of pride welled up inside me as I looked at her, and a smirk grew on my face.

"Hey Ruby… 'sup?"

* * *

Ruby Rose did not expect to fight Roman Torchwick when she went to the dust shop to get some ammo for Crescent Rose.

She did not expect to have to fight beside a Huntress, something which still makes her giddy with excitement, either.

She did not expect to get put inside an interrogation room to be reprimanded by said Huntress about her own and the peoples' safety, too.

She did not expect to see the Headmaster of Beacon to come down to Vale to see her.

She did _not at all_ , expect to see Crimson, her older brother who hadn't been home for _four years_ to finally see her inside the Vale Police Department.

"Hey Ruby… 'sup?" he greeted awkwardly. His eyes were switching from between her and the busty huntress, who was now glaring at him instead of her—which also relieved her, since her glare was kind of unsettling, if Ruby was honest.

"Crimson?" the pitch of her voice went higher by the second syllable, a grin coming to her face. "Crimson? Is… is that you?"

He shrugged, putting his hands behind his head and exhaled as he looked away from the blonde huntress. "I don't know who else it could be—" _It really is him!_ "But to answer your question, yeah, sure. It's me."

Ruby squealed in delight as she got up the chair and speedily hugged her brother on the chest—who was now _much, much_ taller than her—and shook with excitement. "Oh my gosh! You're back! What are you doing here and how did you get here and what did you do with Uncle Qrow during the missions and whendidyougetbackandwhenareyougonnagobackhomecausedadandYangreallymissesyouand—"

"Woah, calm down there, Ruby," He chuckled nervously and glanced at the other inhabitants of the room, making her blush in embarrassment as she let go of her brother to sit back down. "Let Oz talk to you for a minute, okay? I'll be right here—don't worry," He chuckled lightly and leaned against the wall, looking at the two people that were supposed to be talking right now.

 _Alright Ruby,_ She thought giddily. _Be annoying to Crim later, talk to the headmaster now._

"Well, that was a… lovely reunion," said headmaster commented. "Did you not go back to Patch yet, Crimson?"

"Nope," he answered, popping the 'p'. "I plan to—after this," those words got Ruby excited again—oh, oh! Yang would be so happy and Dad would probably take them all out for dinner again and— _focus, the headmaster is staring at you again._

"Hm," The silver haired man leaned closer, looking right at her eyes and making her feel uncomfortable. "Interesting,"

"Um," There really was nothing Ruby could say at that point, only to squint and feel even _more_ uncomfortable during this talk. "O…kay?"

"So!" The old man suddenly pulled back and pulled out a scroll, showing the footage of her beating up the thugs that Torchwick had. The blonde huntress didn't look very interested, but Crimson had peeked over Ozpin's shoulder and got a mirrored look at the video. He looked particularly impressed—which made Ruby cheer internally. "Where did you learn to fight like this?"

Well, at least he started with an easy enough question! "Um, Signal Academy?" Crimson coughed and muttered something under his breath, a word sounding suspiciously similar to 'Qrow' and 'Scythe', but it went unheard by Ruby and Ozpin.

"They taught you to use one of the most dangerous weapons ever designed?" Ozpin raised a brow at this, his words lined with curiosity.

"Well, one teacher in particular," Yep! That was her uncle! He _might_ have been a terrible classroom teacher, but there wasn't really any doubt on his skills with a scythe. _That_ , Ruby can attest to.

A lot.

"I see," Ozpin hummed and put the plate of cookies and glass of milk down on the table. She glanced at it warily and looked at Ozpin. He didn't seem interested, or at least, didn't care if she took a cookie. She took one cookie and ate it in one bite.

Crimson looked mystified, as if he couldn't imagine anyone eating that fast. Preposterous, has he not seen anyone eat like that before?

As Ruby continued to murder the plate of cookies, Crimson breathed out. "How do you eat so _fast?_ "

Ruby, with her cheeks full, answered him cheerfully. "Riry Kwkwi…" she chewed the cookies and swallowed, clearing her throat and giving him a sheepish look. "Really quickly."

She received a dry look in return. "Right."

Ozpin coughed, and she grinned sheepishly and started slowing down, so she could at least speak.

"Well," Ozpin started. "It's just that I've only seen one scythe-user of that skill before…" He looked at her meaningfully. "A dusty old crow."

Ruby nodded bobbed her head furiously. "Yeah, that's my uncle, Qrow! He teaches at Signal, and I used to be utter trash before he taught me, now I'm all like—" she made strange karate noises, to the amusement of at least one person in the room.

Ozpin looked indifferent. "So I've noticed," He puts down his— _is that coffee? In the night?—_ and leans away from Ruby. "And what's an adorable girl like you doing in a school designed to train warriors?"

Crimson coughed and looked away from Ozpin. "That makes you sound like a pedophile," He mumbled. Ozpin twitched, and the busty blonde gained a telltale blush of embarrassment on her face.

"Crimson," the blonde said, her voice sickeningly sweet. "Let's… go outside."

He paled and sent a pleading sort of look to Ruby. She just grinned at him, and the face he made was just _priceless._

Ozpin sighed and shook his head, but there was a small smile in his face as he did so, a fond look on his eyes as the two left the room. "That Crimson—he's blunt and honest to a fault, but so secretive."

"Um, you know him, sir?" Ruby asked tentatively, her previous excited voice gone.

Ozpin shook his head yes and hummed. "I suppose so. He often comes to my office to get missions of… certain importance, along with his—and your—uncle. They are very good at their job."

"Wow," Ruby whispered. So her brother is already doing missions? A small part of her is happy for him—but another part of her is worried. _Is he pushing himself too much?_

He was, after all, known to do that. Training, beating up other people just to 'protect his sisters', and of course, the unforgettable, killing Grimm at 5.

While Ruby was only 3 then, she already had a decent enough memory. Summer—her mom—was amazing, and her siblings also amazing. She didn't quite understand why they were sad, mom only left for a couple weeks, right? She did that all the time.

So when they left to find their mother, and she saw Crimson defending them—that was the first time she saw the cruelness of the world.

And the first time she saw Crimson actually push himself.

Ozpin might've seen the worried look on her face, since he gives her a _look._ "Don't worry, I am well aware of your brother trying to… ah," He gains a small look of concern. "Push himself too hard. Which is why I recommended that he take a few days off."

Ruby gave a small sigh of relief at that. "Thank goodness—it's just that, he's always pushing himself. Like—he's always so," she scrunches up her face as she does gestures that lead to nothing in her hands. "So… ambitious?" Was that the word? Ruby wasn't quite sure, but she didn't really know how to describe the way that her brother pushes himself, either.

Ozpin hummed in agreement, however, so she must have said the right thing. "I can see that," he sighed as he pushes up his small glasses and takes a sip from his mug. "But we're getting off track," he pauses and looks at her. "As I was saying, Miss Rose… what were you doing on a school designed to train warriors?"

She mused about it. It would be amazing to her—and probably even her family—if she could become like the heroes in the fairy tales—in the stories. She could be the hero that everyone needs and wants—the hero that saves everyone.

A cynical part of her, however, the part that awfully sounds like Crimson, says to her. _Yeah, not gonna happen._

 _But then again,_ the more optimistic side, the side that's more _her_ and less the hard and cold logic that Crimson used to employ. _That's why I'm training to become a Huntress, right?_

She takes a deep breath. "I want to be a Huntress."

Ozpin raised a brow. "You want to slay monsters?"

Ruby gained steel in her eyes as she looked Ozpin right in the eye.

"I want to help people, especially those that can't help themselves."

* * *

When I got dragged out the door by Glynda, I just swallowed my spit and faced her.

She had an absolutely annoyed look on her face as she regarded me, her eyes going from my head then to my feet. "You are very distracting,"

"S'not my fault that Ozpin really sounded like one," I mumbled. Glynda coughed and avoided eye contact, a blush on her face. "Besides, I know you're thinking it too."

She mumbled something unintelligible under her breath, and just stayed silent the rest of the wait outside. At one point, I had pulled out my scroll and started to play some games— _Come on little bird, get through the pi—OH MY FUCKING GOD WHY CAN'T YOU JUST FLY?!—_ which occupied me for a small amount of time.

While the blonde professor and I know each other a bit from my excursions in Beacon, we didn't exactly _know_ each other. I mostly interacted with Ozpin since some of my missions came exclusively from him while others came to my scroll, so I didn't really have any time to speak to any of the professors in Beacon.

So, as expected, the rest of the wait was silent and awkward, with the occasional passing officer taking a glance at Glynda and looking away and walking _very_ quickly when she turned to glare at them.

The continuous 'ping' sound coming from my scroll filled the room, my annoyed grumbles being the second backdrop. I was too focused on my scroll to notice the door opening beside me—only when Ozpin himself walked out did I finally put my scroll back to its inactive mode.

He nodded to me and gave me a secretive smile as he and Glynda walked away. Ruby came out of the room, looking a more than a little excited. She was shaking in happiness as she walked out, making me raise a brow as the door closed.

"What's got _you_ excited, Ruby?" I questioned her. She looked at me and she grinned and ran for me again— _God why does she hug so tight!—_ , making me gasp for breath. "Lungs—lungs!"

Ruby giggled and let go, giving me a sheepish smile as she rubbed the back of her head. "Sorry!" She didn't sound very sorry, but one can say that my defense for moe _still_ hasn't gone up in the past four years.

"It's," I take a deep breath, and then exhale. "Fine. Your hugs are painful."

Ruby just giggled more and bounced on her feet as we walked out of the police station. She didn't acknowledge the second part—but she told me what happened after Glynda and I left the room.

"Mm, yeah!" She's just _bubbling_ with excitement tonight. "The headmaster gave me a free pass to Beacon! I can go with you and Yang on Beacon next week!"

Well, he _did_ literally pass me on both Signal _and_ Beacon already, so I don't really _need_ to go to Beacon, but I'm not going to tell her that yet. Besides, Ozpin needed me in there for initiation, just in case something goes wrong since apparently, he made a rule that _Beacon_ staff couldn't interfere during the initiation. I'm not exactly Beacon staff, so I can interfere if he wants me to, not that I'm planning to, since I don't really care.

"That's great," I half-smiled at her, making her pout at me. "You're on your way to your dream, Rubes."

She pouted even harder. "You could make it sound that you at least care."

I raised a brow. "I _do_ care, I just don't show it well," Well, I _did_ care that she got into Beacon early, but I _also_ know that she'll probably regret it as soon as she gets on the airship to Beacon. Probably. The fact that I _also_ can't show it well—and that everyone that knows me knows that—is also an added perk to that reason. "Beacon will be great for you," I added off handedly.

She hums as we walk over to some other officers. Personally, I didn't really want to talk to some cops if I can, but unfortunately, they confiscated Ruby's weapon when she was brought in. Which is crazy, since she's a huntress-in-training and they shouldn't even think of doing that because Hunter weapons tend to be… volatile and dangerous. Too dangerous for a few normal cops, anyway.

Thankfully, the officers didn't seem to notice that I'm a Huntsman. _So, wearing civilian clothes does work,_ I thought idly as I inclined my head towards them. "Where do the confiscated weapons go? I need to pick them up for my sister, here," I gesture towards Ruby, who waved shyly at the cops. "She's a huntress in training."

One of the cops answered. "The front—they'll point you to the right room."

"Alright, thanks. Have a good night," I nod again and walk out crisply with Ruby behind.

"Soo," She starts, gaining a small, innocent smile that she gives me. "Do you have any stories when you went on an adventure with Uncle Qrow?"

I hum as we walk to the front desk. "Sure. I have a few funny ones," and a few sad ones, but I don't think she'd want to hear those. "You want me to tell some?" Well, funny by _my_ standards, and I've been told that I have a dull sense of humor.

"Well, I was hoping it was more like…" She drags out the _like_ in her sentence, looking around as she does so. "Well… an adventure?"

"Like a mission—Yeah, where's the weapon that came in when you caught the vigilante? Alright, thanks—sorry, Ruby. Like a mission?" I asked for clarification from Ruby as I followed the receptionist's directions again—this time, to the right.

"Yeah!" She nods profusely as she walks beside me, a few officers glancing our way and shaking their heads. I bump an officer, the cop muttering a quick 'sorry,' before just speeding past. "Were there any awesome butt kicking during then?"

 _If by extension, you mean getting my butt kicked before I find out how to kill them is awesome butt kicking, then yes. I have a few. Like 5._ "Sure, a fair bit. Most of our missions turn out to be like that, eventually," That's also true. There always seems to be an enemy—an army or just a big Grimm or man—that appears in most missions. A big bad, so to say. It's decent for EXP, but it's just annoying otherwise.

"Sweet!" She grins as she starts bouncing on her heels—sorry, _skipping_ —beside me. "So, what awesome things did you guys do?"

We enter the room where the confiscated weapons are, the officer manning the desk glancing at both of us and sighing. He stood up and went behind a doorway on his right. "Well, I guess there's always the first extermination mission that Uncle Qrow and I took," I started. "It was kind of fun—I fell from a few hundred feet up—"

"You _fell_?" Ruby asked incredulously. The officer from earlier came out of the doorway he went in, mumbling something incoherently. Ruby pays him no mind as she grabs her weapon and attaches it to something behind her as she listens to me attentively. "How did you fall?"

"Fell from a Bullhead," and boy was _that_ a fun experience. "It was… something. I don't recommend it."

Ruby just giggled as we walked out of the room and for the exit of the station. "I don't think anyone would recommend falling from a Bullhead, Crim," She pointed out, snickering. "Who _wants_ to do that?"

 _Qrow,_ I thought listlessly. "Weird people," Close enough. "It works when you're dropping in a hot zone, anyway."

"A hot zone?" She asked curiously. "What's that?"

I glanced at her as I push open the door of the exit, walking to the cool night air and streetlight lit roads of the commercial district. "A hot zone's where all the action is taking place," I stretched my back and sighed as it made several popping noises.

Ruby tilted her head. "So… where all the Grimm are?"

Well, not necessarily _only_ Grimm, but sure. "Sure," I agreed. I don't think anyone would appreciate me going to bust some heads of a few Mistralian mafia and a few Vacuan cartels, so I'm just going to keep that to myself. "It's… an _experience_ when you fall on a hot zone for the first time," and boy oh boy, was _that_ my first experience.

"That sounds fun!" Ruby chirped. "I don't have to worry about anyone, I just have to use Crescent Rose and kill the Grimm, right?"

I hummed. Ozpin wouldn't kill me for this, right? "Not really. When you go to Beacon, you're going to have to be on a four-man team. You'd have to take care of your friends too."

Ruby made a face. "Really? I have to…" She mock shivered. "Socialize?"

"Mhm," I get where she's coming from. I don't really like working with other people since most of them just get on the way of my acid attacks and get hurt _then_ they bitch about it. Luckily for me, I can handle myself fine, but I don't think Ruby could… yet. "Teams should be good for you. You'd have someone to watch your back when you go on a few missions."

"You say that as if _you_ don't have a team," she pointed out. "And shouldn't Uncle Qrow be with you?"

I didn't answer, since I glanced to the right. It was a bakery, and I could see some cookies at the display.

 _Well, I did promise to try, right?_

"Ruby," I caught her attention. She glanced at me with a hum and followed my line of sight, also seeing the bakery I was looking at. "Do you still want those cookies?"

Her eyes gleamed.

When I finally got out of the bakery with Ruby, it had been about 30 minutes. I lost a bit of lien that I had saved up on my account and am now carrying 2 bags of cookies on my arms. I mumbled something about my discontent, but Ruby seems to not have earned.

"Thanks, Crimson!" She chirped. _She's like a vacuum for lien._ "Let's do that again next time!" She says that with the biggest smile on her face, and if I were any lesser man, I would have melted.

Unfortunately for her, I had resistance to her smiles and moe. "Sure," I did not, however, say that I _can_ resist her, as had been done many times before. "If I have time, anyway," My resistance only allowed that to go out instead of outright saying never mind.

Ruby cheered as we walk down the streets. A few people turned to look at us and just shook their heads in amusement. I sighed as we walked down the road and towards the ports to go to Patch.

 _I have a feeling that something's going to happen,_ I mused. _There always seems to be something wrong. At least, once every year for a special boss. I hope not. I don't really feel like fighting._

Though even if I _didn't_ feel like fighting, I would still have to because I'm a Huntsman and I'm obligated for that kind of stuff. Sometimes, I just _really_ wish I'd just taken the Raven route and started to roam Remnant or something so I can do whatever, but I can't bring myself to leave my family behind.

That, and there's apparently a person that can control and create Grimm and I doubt that leaving Vale would be a good idea, nor would it be good for my health. Considering that only around 10%- probably even less—of the world is populated by humans (10% _recorder_ , but I really doubt that we could expand further than that), then there's still 90% of the world filled with Grimm.

And Grimm is equal to Ozpin and the fairy tales' common enemy. After all, she controls the army, and we're just a couple super powered freaks, aren't we? Army killers, destroyers, enders, doesn't matter, really. Eventually, I'd just get overwhelmed and I'd die, and theoretically, have the **[Growth]** ability be taken out of me by the same woman that took it out of Fall.

As Ruby continues to prattle on about her stories in Signal with Yang("Oh, Signal was so cool! I even fought a girl that could slow down time around me! She was really tough, but I won eventually!" "Oh, Interna Explorer?" "You know each other?!"), we slowly reach the port side of Vale, the smell of fish on the air.

"Eugh… the ports smell like fish," Ruby complains, pinching her nose. "I really don't like coming here."

"Isn't this how you got to Vale?" I asked, looking around. There were a large amount of people that didn't look very privileged—actually, I won't pull punches. They looked _…_ well, not poor Just average. Faunus, orphans, unnamed business men, there's a lot at the ports, just waiting for the docked ships to leave.

"Well yeah, but it doesn't mean I have to like the smell," My sister grumbled as she drags her feet behind me. I just shake my head and continue walking towards the cashier stall. A few people look towards us and shake their heads before lounging in their seats.

 _Please don't tell me there's a problem._

As we got closer to the stall, I hear the cashier talking to someone on a scroll. "Sir, I'm telling you, it's a big problem!" he hissed.

Well shit.

We reach the cashier, and I cough to get his attention. He freezes during the call, and promises whoever on the other side to call back, and smiles at us. "Yes?"

"We want two tickets to Patch, please!" Ruby chirps from my side, taking a few lien (that I had given her) from the pockets on her cape and placing it on the desk. The clerk freezes and his smile seems strained.

"Ah, I don't think you should do that," He says lowly. "The waters out the port are dangerous today—too many aquatic Grimm are already wrecking a few of our ships and heavily damaging passenger ships. We've stopped ships from coming and going since the third event took place," He sighed.

"What?!" Ruby suddenly screamed. Other people—I suppose I know _why_ they're stuck here. They can't afford airships and could only take the boats—turned to look at us. I glare at them, and they back off. "But I got here a few hours ago! There weren't any Grimm back then."

"Sorry, missy," The clerk smiles tiredly. "We've called in a few Huntsmen a few hours ago, they should take care of the Kraken," Ruby freezes in place.

"Well, you heard him, Ruby," I said, holding her harm. "Come on, let's just hop on an airship."

"Did you say… Kraken?" Ruby asked, her voice just _filled_ with excitement.

 _Oh no._

The clerk looks at her oddly. "Yeah… big thing, tentacles, took our boats down to the sea. Kraken."

Ruby muttered something under her breath and looks up at me pleadingly.

The message was received.

 _Can we kill it?_

 _No._ "Ruby…" I started. She started to pout even harder.

"Ruby…" Her bottom lip stuck out as she continued her puppy eyed attack at me. _Hng._ "We can't—we have to head back to Patch, remember? Dad will worry about you."

"Please?"

"Ruby it will be dangerous. It's a Kraken, it's not something you can just cut up." I tell her exasperatedly. "We just need to get home."

"We can't go home without at least trying," Ruby whined. She then gestures towards the people, the people who were stuck here and were now looking at us. "Look, these people need our help! Isn't that the job of Huntresses… and Huntsmen?"

The cashier perks up. "Wait, you kids are Hunters?"

Ruby tilted her head. "Um, yeah— well, Huntresses… and huntsman in training," _Jokes on you, Ruby, I'm not in training anymore._ "We can help!"

The cashier then bows to Ruby and pleads. "Please, you need to help us! The hunters aren't coming since we can't pay them enough money and—"

"Save the sob reasons for someone else," I cut him off coldly. "We're just here to go home, but it looks like we can't since the ships aren't available," I glanced at Ruby, seeing her _still_ resolved, if not even more, to fight the Kraken. " _Let's go,_ Ruby."

She looks up at me.

"Please, Crimson?" She pleaded in behalf of the cashier. I resist the urge to groan in annoyance. _Hero complex. Please._ "We have to help them!"

"Ruby, no."

"Ruby, _yes._ "

I sighed in annoyance.

 _Not like I can escape this…_

 **Quest added: 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea**

 **Destroy the Aquatic Grimm horde**

 _Well, I have to change that statement. I_ can't _escape this._

I have to basically do this now since I just received a quest for it. Well—I could ignore it, but the sweet EXP would be lost and I don't know if Ruby would leave even if I left her here. I don't trust her not to go hunt the aquatic Grimm, and it leaves a particularly bad taste on my mouth if I left Ruby alone with a tentacle monster.

"Fine," I groused, opening up my scroll. The cashier sighed in relief as the people started to mumble between each other. Ruby cheered as I punched in a number on my scroll.

"What was that?" Ruby asked, trying to sneak a look on my scroll. I close it and just ruffled her hair.

"My weapons and my combat outfit," I told her. Should be here within the next minute—I can hear the rocket from here. "It should be here in a few," Well, probably fewer than that by now. The rocket is within hearing range now, and people are starting to look around and wonder.

The rocket-propelled locker landed without much problem. It buried itself at the cement, making a loud _thud_ sound as it did. I grunt as I force the door to open, tearing off a bit of the sidewalk with it.

Inside was my combat outfit and Dust Chamber. My combat outfit was still the same, sans the cape since I'm wearing it now. I take out my black sleeveless shirt, pants, and boots, but hesitate to take the mask. Funnily enough, my mask, the one that's supposed to conceal my identity, made an identity of its own.

Basically, the Masked Huntsman was known to wear an Ursa Mask, so wearing that thing is a no go.

Instead, I take the vambraces which I commissioned some time ago. It didn't have the extra intimidation factor I get from the mask, nor do I get the concealed identity of it, but I _do_ get the +1 Strength with it, so it's fine.

I hesitate, but I take the mask as well and stuff it inside my cape. Better safe than sorry.

I take Dust Chamber—which had a few upgrades since I became a Huntsman, like the silver lining on the edge of the sheath—or Chamber, if you want to be specific. It looks like I'll be using the upgrade sooner than I thought.

I close the locker and head towards a private area and quickly dress up, tossing my casual clothes on a heap to the right as I rush my dressing up. Luckily, no one comes to check for me, and Ruby seems to just be casually lounging around the area.

As soon as I finished dressing up, I take my casual clothes and open my locker again, throwing them inside. I slam the door closed and punch in a few more numbers, making the rocket locker fly towards Beacon.

 _That should make it land several meters from Beacon,_ I thought as I watched it fly away. _Probably._ If it doesn't, I'll have to pay for it and that would be annoying for my account.

I stretch out as I sighed. I wore the same combat outfit I had since I was 13, and instead of my signature Ursa Mask, I was instead wearing a steel gray vambrace from my wrist to a bit below my elbows, the glove part of it being colored pure black. I clench and unclench my fist to test out movement. Nothing seems to be out of place.

I relaxed as I attach Dust Chamber to my left side and walk back to the port. As I walked inside, I notice the civilians were talking amongst themselves—as if they weren't already—and that Ruby was chatting it up with the cashier.

I kept my stone face on as I walk up to them, my expression showing nothing as I come closer. I notice a few heads turn to me, and a few murmur some words that sound like "Masked Huntsman". Or something. I don't know, I'm not very good at eavesdropping.

"—and he _really_ doesn't like people, so I'm sorry for him and we'd be happy to—" Ruby continues to… apologize, apparently, to the cashier, who just looks bewildered as he receives multiple apologies from the little huntress.

"Ah, yeah, no problem—" the cashier also goes on a similar tangent.

Unfortunately for them, I know what he's doing. I have a suspicion that the company _didn't_ hire a group of Huntsmen—or they really have no way of paying Huntsmen—and are using Ruby to deal with their Grimm problem despite the fact that Ruby was _only 15._

Bunch of cheapskates, really. Unfortunately, Ruby _really_ wants to 'save' some people, even if I don't want to. She's something special, alright. She wants to be a hero, something that I don't want to be. Being a hero is… a deadly occupation. Not something that anyone wants to do so intentionally. I wanted to pop her bubble of naivety but…

As Ruby smiled and sheepishly scratched the back of her head, I remember _why_ I didn't want to. She looked so _happy_ helping other people—something I admittedly, did not feel even when I got thanks for all the work I did for them.

For me, it was a job well done. I get paid, I leave. They thank me, I don't care, it doesn't really matter.

 _I wonder if it's the 3 charisma talking,_ I thought as I tap Ruby in the shoulder, making her yelp in surprise as she turns around to see me. "Crimson! You surprised me, don't do that!"

I snorted as I shook my head. "I guess I should _educate_ you on a few Huntsman… or huntress… rules. One is _always_ be aware of your surroundings."

"I am, though!" Ruby protested. "I just… got surprised because I didn't notice you! You went under my… radar of detection!" She adds a tone of mystery on the last part, making me snicker as she pouts at me.

"Alright, on another note," I turn to the cashier. "How exactly are we going to deal with the aquatic Grimm if there's no ship that would take us there?"

"Actually, there's one ship that wants to take care of the problem, they're—"

"Over here!" A boisterous voice called out to us.

I turned to them, and my eyes narrowed.

I recognized that sailor.

It was the pirate guy I defeated a few years back.

"Let's go kill us some Grimm!"

* * *

 _ **A/N**_

 _ **Hello,**_

 _ **Honestly didn't mean to leave this chapter on a cliff hanger, but I wanted to leave this chapter as non combat since I realized the chapters below this were actually just really big fight scenes**_

 _ **Weekly updates are a thing now, and I'll try to abide by that.**_

 _ **This chapter is shorter than most, at around 7k words.**_

 _ **Aaaand onto the story…**_

 _ **Ruby convinces Crimson to fight aquatic Grimm! Ruby has the power of puppy eye technique on her side, rendering Crimson's defenses against moe useless!**_

 _ **Or something like that, hue.**_

 _ **There seems to be a bunch of people mistaking Master for something else—but I'm going to just leave what he does here to help you guys.**_

 _ **Well, help a bit, not a lot. The only thing I'll say is that Master's ability the Class system on steroids.**_

 _ **Also, I didn't get enough questions to make the Q &A a reasonable enough length, sadly, so I'll be postponing that thing for a different chapter. I'll just leave you guys a different omake.**_

 _ **So I'll just answer some questions here—(sorry to the people who wanted the Q &A :c)**_

 _ **That Guest Review asking how Crimson rates Ozpin—around 6.5/10. He respects the dude, but just as a boss and nothing really more.**_

 _ **Youngsavage, I have a few plans that make this story go up to Volume 4 (which I will hopefully reach because you can't be too sure)**_

 _ **Just another guy, yeah I caught that when I was writing. It wasn't personality however, it was more like the lack of conversations he has, so you don't really see what he's like as a person and only see him as a fighter**_

 _ **As to the Guest that asked if he's gonna take the rest of the Gamer powers, I'd say he's more worried on keeping his family safe than troubling himself with a dangerous fight.**_

 _ **^don't hold me on that, since it's bound to change.**_

 _ **Aaand… I think that's it.**_

 _ **So, onto the omake.**_

* * *

 **Omake: Triple Threat**

* * *

The multiverse.

A huge expanse of infinite universes. People think that there's more to it, some people think that it's just that—a bunch of universes.

The first case, however, is the one that's right. There _is_ more to it. Similar universes tend to be together in a bubble-type cluster—several universes stuck together, each universe represented in a spherical form. Each bubble cluster is separate from each other, though some touch at the edges and form wormholes, but that's a story for a different day…

Each set of clusters has a leader for them—or, the most common term for any person on or above the 4th dimension, a Sys-Admin. A system administrator, managing the cluster he is holding—creating new instances, and occasionally, letting his juniors create other universes with their own people, own characters, and own settings.

However, not all Senior Sys-Admins, as they are called, let their Juniors mess around with their cluster. Some tend to be very protective—some to the point of kicking off a Junior from their cluster.

The cluster of Universes we are reading of right now, however, has a very kind Senior Sys-Admin—which we'll shorten to SSA, for convenience sake—, that has taken the name of 'Monty Oum'.

As with all SSAs, or just SAs(System Administrators) in general, he has a shadowy form, humanoid, but that's really all there is to it. He had two white dots on the figure representing his head, and a thin line that represents his mouth. The SSA observed his cluster and the several other JSAs(Junior System Administrators) that work on their respective Universes. He was proud of his work, really—proud that he had attracted so many JSAs to his cluster to hone their skills.

Eventually, these JSAs would move on to be SSAs, and he'd be happy knowing that he, Monty Oum, had a part in their work. He'd stand by them and smile as he watched them grow further beyond what he could have ever hoped to achieve.

So… he was happy. As happy as an SSA could be, anyway.

His eyes drifted over to a set of universes that hovered a few feet (to him and the other JSAs, to normal people, that would be trillions to zillions of light years) away from each other, a lone JSA watching over them. There was a small funnel connected between four universes, which the JSA watched intently.

"What's… going on over there?" Monty says, concerned for the work of his junior.

The junior, with his white dot eyes, imitated a blink as he looked at his senior. "Erm… something. It's intentional, don't worry about it, sir."

Monty narrowed his eyes. "Are you sure about that, JSA Bluh?"

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure," He answered nonchalantly. He continued to observe the funnel that connected the three together, before cutting them all off and watching the single universe that had apparently been the final destination. "I'm just… taking care of loose ends."

* * *

With multiple universes, there were multiple outcomes. Different settings. Different powers, semblances. Hell, it could even be a different person entirely.

This is one Universe that has a different timeline from its host universe.

* * *

Crimson eyes were forced to stay open as the young man panted in exhaustion, watching the four enemies in front of him. Four enemies named Flandre, the vampire Grimm.

His eyes switched from target to target, his hands clenching on the big, red gauntlets that he wore.

"Damn it…!" He cursed as he dodged another beam. The vampires had learned the hard way of _not_ going near the hand to hand fighter, opting to stay out of his effective range and peppering the boy with beams of energy. Crimson was forced to dodge and roll out of the attacks as he ran for them, his gauntlets glowing a deadly shade of red.

He punched forward, a wave of fire coming out of a barrel on the bottom of his gauntlets. The fire temporarily blinded the vampires, making them hiss as he ran past the flames, raising a single fist above and bearing it down on a vampire.

The fist hit its target, making the vampire fall to the ground. Crimson followed up with a quick uppercut, and sent several punches to its gut, making it cough up black blood as it was sent back and crashing to the earthen wall of the cave.

He couldn't celebrate, however, as several beams already made their way to his position, forcing him to flip back to avoid the shots. He couldn't, however, dodge the explosions. He was forced back. He gasped in pain as he coughed up blood, bouncing a few times on the cold, rock floor.

The vampire he had beaten up had gotten back up again and was now floating with its siblings, all of them collectively growling and gathering energy at their fingertips.

 _No…_

 _Not like this!_

He grabbed a crystal, the Soul Artifact, from his cape, and crushed it in his hands, consuming it.

Blue energy mixed with his own…

And his eyes were opened.

* * *

 _Call me…_

 _Call me…_

 _Call on ME!_

* * *

"Call…" the teenager mumbled, staggering upwards as he watched the vampires shoot their laser towards him.

"Call…" The laser was mid way between them, Crimson standing in front of it defiantly.

"THE WORLD!"

There was silence.

Then the laser blew up the ground.

But Crimson wasn't there.

The vampires were confused.

But then they were dead.

Crimson was behind them, gasping in exhaustion as he took in greedy gulps of air. A yellow, muscular _thing_ stood beside him, helping Crimson stand up. He continued to gasp in pain as The World kept holding him up.

Then there was a flash of white, and he was gone.

* * *

 _Two._

* * *

A young man is cornered.

Four vampires floating above him as he clicked his tongue in annoyance, ignoring the blood running down his brow as he kept his eyes on the vampires.

One of the vampires screeched and shot a laser from its fingers, making Crimson lunge to the side to avoid the attack. The laser exploded on the ground, tearing it up, and making Crimson grunt as a chunk of debris hit him in the back.

He rolled as he hit the ground and stood up quickly to recover. He faced his enemies, still far away from him. He held his hand up as he pointed it towards the vampires, his eyes narrowing as Aura took shape beside him.

 _Judge the concept of creation… Hypothesize the basic structure._ A blueprint formed in his mind as more Aura was siphoned to the forming blade beside him.

 _Duplicating the composition material._ The blade, was no longer a blade, actually. It was forming a scythe—a scythe of red. _My sister's._

 _Imitating the skill of its making._ Several images ran across his head. Images of his sister using the scythe on battle against Beowolves, other people, and occasionally, his other sister. _Using the scythe as a booster… used with speed. A lot of it._

 _Sympathizing with the experience of its growth._ A feeling grew inside him—a burning love for the weapon, the same love its creator has for the weapon. He, however, quickly squashed it. It wasn't his—was never his, to be used. It was a fake, it wasn't real, and he wouldn't be stealing what is essentially his sister's weapon.

 _Reproducing the accumulated years._ The weapon was quite young, around 4 years old, but it was enough. Memories…

 _Excelling every manufacturing process._ The red, mechanical scythe that is also a high powered sniper rifle took form beside him. Crimson grabbed the handle immediately. The scythe was set behind him, blade to the ground as he looked over the vampires.

The process had only taken a few seconds.

He fired the scythe behind him, using the recoil to boost himself to a vampire. The scythe's edge was already beside him, and its target already marked. The blade hit a vampire's chest, making him spin around a vampire as it hissed and screeched in pain.

Crimson spun around the vampire, the scythe's blade looped around the chest of the vampire. He fired, and he tore the vampire in half, killing it.

The two halves of the vampire fell to the ground as Crimson did, several beams landing in his area as soon as he did. Explosions rang on the cave as he was shot with explosion after explosion, lowering his already low health to even lower levels.

He deflected a few stray orbs with the red scythe, before firing behind him to dash for another vampire. He roared out a battle cry as he glared at one of them, but he was blindsided.

The two other vampires had appeared in front of him, burying both their fists on his gut and making him cough up blood. The other vampire had a haymaker already set up, socking him right on the face. One of the three vampires was suddenly above him, and smashed him right to ground, forming a small crater.

 _I can't…_

He consumed the Soul Artifact.

His eyes were opened.

* * *

 _A hill of swords._

 _Of blades._

 _Of weapons._

* * *

" _I… am the bone of my sword,"_ He starts the chant, red Aura appearing around him as his eyes glowed brighter. The vampires screeched and dashed for him, intending to end it before it started.

" _Steel is my body,"_ A bright red shield of Aura forms around him. The vampires beat on it and screeched, trying to distract the young man. " _Fire is my blood."_

The vampires stopped trying to punch the shield into submission, and the remaining three gathered together, firing a barrage of orbs and lasers towards the shield. " _I have created over a thousand blades,"_ the lasers and orbs exploded on the surface of the shield, cracking it a bit. Crimson winced as he forced more Aura into the shield. _Just a little longer._ " _Unknown to death, nor known to life."_

" _Withstood pain to create weapons, protecting one's family,"_ The shield cracked, Crimson closing his eyes tight as he continued his chant. " _I have no regrets. This is the path I chose,_ " he opened his eyes, now glowing a combination of red and blue, swirling together in an endless dance. _"Unlimited Blade Works!"_

Fire spread from his position, and the four entities vanished.

After what seems to be an eternity, they come back. Crimson panted, sweat and blood dripping from his brow and landing on the ground below as he tried to cope with what happened.

A bright flash of light, and then he was gone.

* * *

 _Three._

* * *

Three people, but different experiences… Wind, Time, and Blade. Three of the same people… but oh so different.

What does the world want with them? What do they have in common?

Nothing, really. Only that their presence is something special.

Special in the sense of something will happen to the place they are in—and it's _not_ a celebration of happiness. It won't be smiles and sunshines.

No.

Not at all.

They will be angry, they will be yelling, they will not understand.

So, _he_ will make them understand.

The JSA rubbed his 'chin' as he watched the three Crimson's converge in the one Universe he had… messed up with. They would not like this one bit. Not at all.

But then again… it didn't really matter if they liked it or not, didn't it?

* * *

 _ **Last A/N:**_

 _ **Aaand… that's the end of the omake. I'm sure you guys can figure out what the two powers are, since both of them expressly mention what they are :v**_

 _ **I could make this omake a recurring thing but whatever**_

 _ **Aaand… I think that's it.**_

 _ **Take this story with a grain of salt**_

 _ **Story is semi-serious, so don't take it too seriously**_

 _ **Reviews are appreciated, but not necessary**_


	9. Aquatic Troubles

_A/Ns at the end of the chapter_

* * *

 _I don't own RWBY, obviously._

 _I only own Crimson… and some other OCs, I can't be bothered to name them all._

* * *

I would recognize that annoying voice anywhere.

It was the pirate that was conned into helping Robert Rotten out a few years ago—I don't necessarily feel bad for beating the guy up since his team was a collection of idiots, but having him recognize me _might_ be a problem. Might.

"Woah, is that a pirate?" Ruby whispered next to me, an odd expression coming across her face. "Like, a real pirate?"

"Well, I ain't a pirate," The pirate—sorry, _not_ a pirate—huffed. "I'm a legitimate seafarer!"

"Is that a word?" I idly asked, my eyes on the pirate and his crew, which, I noted, was the same crew of people I beat back then. The _strong_ woman, the _crotch_ ninja, and a new addition, a _really_ fat man. "I'm not sure if it is."

The pirate squinted his eyes at me, and I turn away from him, putting my hands in my pockets. _Don't recognize me please. I don't want to open that can of worms._ "Have me… met before? Ye seem awfully familiar to me…"

"Nope," I replied hastily. "Haven't seen a single pirate in my life."

"Is that so..?" The pirate squinted harder, but I kept my poker face on, though I was screaming internally for being so easy to read.

"Well, I take the glory of being your first then!" The pirate laughed, and the woman behind him grimaced and palmed her face, muttering something about _'_ stupid old pirates'. I heaved a sigh of relief and paused as the wording finally sank in my brain.

"Uh yeah, I guess," the pirate kept laughing as I scratched my head. "Congratulations," _I guess I've underestimated the mask's Concealed Identity perk… Noting to myself to always bring it for stealth missions._

The pirate stopped laughing, but still had a big smile on his face as he extended a hand towards me. "Well, lad, I suppose introductions are in order!" He did a pose, and I sighed. "I am the Seafarer! My name is Finn, no last name, and these," he gestured to the people behind him. Needless to say, they did _not_ have the same enthusiasm as he did.

"The ninja is Hitama Gen, call him Gen 'cause that's faster to say, the fat man," the description brought out a indignant shout from said fat man, making Finn chuckle as he continued. "is Marco Mural, and the lovely lady is Hana Paint. Together, we're called…" He did a pose, which his teammates did _not_ copy. Hana was looking at him with a deadpan, Gen was looking elsewhere, and the fat man—sorry, Marco—couldn't even do it so he just continued to stare. "Team FHHM (Fume)!"

"Uh… yeah," Sweat dripped down the side of my face, but I kept my expression as rigid as stone, while inwardly I just wanted to slap the man so he can have some sense into him. He was… overdramatic, annoying, and just plain stupid. I can see at least one person on his team agreeing.

"Team… Fume?" Ruby tests the name on her tongue as she repeats it. "Huh. That sounds like a cool name!"

"It's the coolest name on Remnant, lassie!" The pirate boisterously laughed, a hand on his chest as he did. The woman—Hana—sighed.

"Don't encourage the moron," she pleads to Ruby. "Please."

I hummed. "Listen to the woman, Rubes."

Mentioned little sister just pouted at me. "You're being mean to the pirate," she complained.

"I'm agreeing with the woman," I corrected her. "I'm not being mean to the pirate."

"I'm here, you know…" Finn mumbled. He's sporting a pink bump on his head, nursing it with a hand. Hana simply cracks her knuckles and relaxed. The ninja—Gen—and the fat man—Marco—just heaved a sigh.

"Mhm," I nonchalantly acknowledge the pirate, looking around the docks. There were a lot of docked ships, none I could instantly recognize as a Hunter's, though. "So… where's your ship? You don't expect us to swim to our destination, don't you?" I was being a bit of a dick here, but I don't really care much, even if I do know that I'm being an insensitive prick.

Finn frowned at me as he answered. "My ship's… somewhere in the port. I'll lead ye kids to it and we'll take out some Grimm," He stood up straighter and stared right at my bored face as he did so. "And before we do that… let me tell ye one thing kid: my ship, _my_ rules. Got it?"

"Yeah, yeah," I said without much care. Instead, I was looking at the horizon, roughly on the same direction as Patch, trying to sense for any anomalies.

A deep void… just at the edge of my senses. It might be the horde… but something is setting me off.

"Listen, kid," The pirate got up to my face, making me resist the urge to just sigh in annoyance and bat him away. I _know_ I can do it. I probably would too, but Ruby is sending me worried looks and the three stooges behind him are tense. It would be more trouble than it's worth if I retaliate. Probably. "I don't need no mutiny on board the _Alexandria_ , a'ight? We don't need more Grimm at these waters. I ain't going to tolerate your attitude aboard my ship."

My eyes bore into his, but he didn't seem shaken. "I _said,_ yeah. I _know_ what happens when you get too negative, so _buzz off,_ " I wanted a few more strong words in there, but Ruby was in the vicinity and my moral compass told me _not_ to curse in front of my little sister. No matter how old she is.

He was glaring at me, but slowly backs off. "Aye," He says slowly, turning around. "Let's get aboard my ship."

He walked away, the three other crew members trailing behind him. I put my hands in my pockets and followed them, Ruby falling into step beside me. "What was that?" She whispered, quite annoyed. "What happened there?"

"I'm annoyed by loud people," I answered quickly, still trying to sense for trouble. _Strange… they're all concentrated in one position._ "Not including you or our family. But he's annoying, so I can't help it," I shrugged to add on to that.

Ruby just sighed deeply, mumbling something about 'hopeless people' or something similar to it. My eyes squinted, focusing on the far ocean.

I saw a fin break the calmness of the waters, and then submerge again, sinking deep into the sea.

 _Well, that's not ominous,_ I thought dryly. Ruby tugged on my cape, making me turn to her.

"They're already over there, come on!" She said to me excitedly as she hurries over to the three… sorry, _four_ stooges. I calmly follow behind her as she runs for FHHM.

The four man team stops in front of a large boat—it looked like any other boat in this port, much like a passenger ship, but there was a word painted on the side of the ship facing us; _Alexandria._ The name of the ship, obviously.

We stop a bit behind him, and the proud pirate, namely Finn, gestures widely towards the ship with a big grin on his face. "This… is the Alexandria, my pride and joy!"

"It looks like any other passenger ship," Ruby innocently pointed out, making Finn deflate and mutter some stuff. Gen pats him in the back as Marco pulls out his scroll and presses a few things on its screen, making the ship rumble as a door opened below the word 'Alexandria', a ramp falling into place at the port side. "What's so special about it?"

Finn puffed up and puts a hand on his chest as he stood above the ramp. "The Alexandria ain't just any passenger ship! It's equipped with several of the best dust cannons in Vale!" Ruby squealed. I don't really understand the hype for guns—or weapons in general. They're used to kill Grimm (and people), they're not really _made_ to be decorative. "I used a lot of the money I earned from Hunter missions to buy and modify the ship, and I'm telling ya, lassie, it was well above worth it!"

"That sounds cool," Ruby murmured under her breath. Finn doesn't seem to hear it, for obvious reasons, but he seems to have gotten the point of what she said, as he nodded satisfactorily. "Do you guys explore the ocean sometimes?"

The pirate winked and did a 'shushing' motion, putting a finger to his lips. "That would be illegal, so I can't tell _anyone,"_ the three other people on his team had already gone inside. I couldn't see them, but they've gone on their separate positions. "Now, come along! We have us a few Grimm to kill!" He laughed heartily and beckoned us inside. Ruby practically skipped while I dragged my feet.

I looked around as we got inside. It was well lit. There were cabins on the side and several corridors, but I don't really need to focus on those as much as I need to focus on the sea around us. "Where's the way to the deck?"

The pirate looked at both of us and pointed forward. "Keep goin' straight, there's a stairway that leads to the deck. Ye better fight good, kiddos, 'cause I _really_ don't want to damage the ship," He stalks off in a different direction, and Ruby called out to him.

"Where are you going?" She asked him. "I thought we were going to the deck?"

The pirate smiled wryly. "Why do you think I'm the leader, lass? I'm a sailor. A _captain!_ " He boasted and stood up straighter at that, and I just rolled my eyes. Ruby didn't seem to know how to respond as she just grinned uncertainly.

"Let's go," I told her. "We need to keep watch."

Ruby nodded, determined. "Right."

We raced forward, and, as Finn said, there was a stairway that lead to the deck as we went forward. We climbed up quickly, one intent to see the sea (I think) and the other just wanting to get the job done.

Guess which is which, I think it's pretty obvious who is who.

As soon as we were under the night's sky, I saw the ninja sitting on the prow of the ship. _Sitting_ , however, is a loose term, since he was just crouched technically.

A foghorn sounded, and the ship started moving. I looked over the ship and see random civilians looking at our direction, and I _faintly_ see a group of people that looked suspiciously like Huntsmen stop and look. _Sigh._

Nonetheless, we leave the docks quite unchallenged, and I hope that's all there is to it.

* * *

 _Deep under the sea between Vale and Patch_

* * *

For the first time in several millennia, it opened its eyes.

Its dark red eyes scanned its surroundings. Sand and rocks and the telltale salty water of the sea surrounded it, making it grunt as it acknowledged its state. It was buried under quite a few tons of sand, nothing it couldn't handle, but it didn't really feel like it wanted to leave.

Not quite yet, anyway.

It felt several of its kind above—lesser beings, inferior ones, and _artificial._ If it had a face to do it with, it would've sneered. If it were any lesser monster, it would have gone up just to destroy the copies, just so it can honor its heritage.

Unfortunately, it was not yet time.

It could feel it… a power it had not felt in a few generations. Only _its_ power could awaken it. The one… no… _two_ powers that awakened it. It almost wanted to laugh—two of its greatest enemies have gone near it, and they have no idea of what they had just done.

It entertained the idea of going up to cause chaos, to do what it had been made to do, to spread the seeds of fear and terror at the minds of the lowly humans that had come to build a settlement around it. It would be an era of the _True_ Grimm, and fear would be their weapon.

But, then again…

The two beings it could feel above it, they radiated _power_ , one in particular feeling more powerful than the other. Perhaps the other one had already awakened its power? The monster doesn't care, but both of them combined didn't seem to even hold a candle to its current strength.

It was almost disappointed, but it suddenly gained a glint on its red, beady eyes.

The other one… the stronger of the two, it was one it was familiar with. It remembered the endless ocean of energy inside its predecessor, the endless creativity of its attacks, the power that came from its light. A mere look from the stronger of the two could incapacitate a mere Grimm, though it's more because of the same _light_ that they use to attack that comes out of their eyes.

 _Aura,_ it believes they call it. A manifestation of the soul. Quite right, if the elder Grimm does say so itself.

 _Perhaps,_ it thought. _I could push this human's growth…_

It remembered its battles with the human's predecessor. Arrows of Aura exploding against its scales… beams of light and swords of fire raining down on the sky as Aura bombarded its scales, sharp blades of Aura penetrating its skin… The wounds under its white bone plates throbbed as it remembered the great battles of before.

With a decision made, black blood leaked into the salt ocean, taking form into a few giant ocean Grimm, swimming off to the surface to join their lesser brethren. The elder Grimm relaxed, and once again decided to sleep.

 _We will fight, and meet again…_ The elder Grimm thought drowsily. _Jormungandr will see to it. I await you, Growth._

* * *

"So," the word was dragged out, the voice beside me saying the word. "What's _your_ backstory? Any particular reason you're…" she looked around her before she settled her vision to me. "Edgy?"

The woman beside me was the scantily dressed brunette, Hana Paint. The strong woman. I glanced at her and shrugged. "I'm not really edgy, I just like keeping to myself."

"Yeah," she nodded, doing jazz hands. "Edgy."

"I honestly don't think that's what it means," I muttered, my eyes on the water below us. "But okay."

The woman had gone down here to help us scout out the waters. We had arrived at the last known communication point of the sunken ships, and I confirmed that there were multiple Grimm underwater that were circling us. Ruby had taken her spot at the top of the ship to provide sniper fire, and Gen and Marco were at the other side of the ship. I had taken my spot at the prow, and Hana had appeared somewhat around five minutes ago.

The woman hummed as she looked at the water. "Say… you look familiar," my breath got stuck in my throat, and I resist the urge to start choking.

"H-hm?" Shit, I stuttered. I finger Dust Chamber, the silver lining of the edge glinting at the moon's and the ship's lights. "Familiar in what way?"

"Dunno," she squints her eyes at the dark figures of the Grimm below. We had already noticed they were right below us, but for some reason, hadn't wanted to attack us as of yet. "Kinda like… foreboding? Like shit's about to hit the fan foreboding. I'unno. Felt it only once before… back at the docks."

 _They don't know who you are so shut the fuck up, Crimson._ My brain—sorry, that was _Kreutz_ telling me to shut up. "I guess I'm just intimidating," I shrugged. "Not my fault."

She hummed. "Guess so," she glanced at the sword at my waist and squints at me. "Guess so."

"Yeah," My voice trails off as a _large_ shockwave of dark energy—the dark energy that I felt from Grimm—exploded from below the sea. Large void energies emanating from way below the sea's surface, and I felt one thing that I haven't felt in ages.

Fear. True fear.

I _felt_ it. True fear. The feeling that I would _die_ any second—the feeling that I was utterly outmatched by my enemies, the feeling that no matter how strong I could get, there's always stronger. _Far far stronger._ It was a feeling that I haven't been acquainted with for a long time.

I stumbled to my knees as I held my head and yelled out. Hana had frozen beside me, and I heard Ruby cry out from above us. _The fear! The fear ohmygodno!_ It was overwhelming me, my sensor ability overriding my emotions.

Then just as quick as it appeared, it was gone.

I gasped for breath as I held my chest. My heart beat _wildly_ as I tried to recover. Whatever released that explosion of Grimm energy had disappeared, thankfully enough. The energy was far away—further than the current range in my sensor ability, yet it was powerful and dense enough that it was felt from above here.

 _I await you, Growth._

From below me, a nametag flashed. Fast enough for me to read the whole thing.

 **Jormungandr**

 **Wrapped Around The World**

 **Endgame Boss**

 _Holy shit…_ If I thought the Grimm before were powerful…

I shivered at the thought. I had just encountered—though indirectly—an endgame boss. For the first time in years, perhaps in this life, I had just realized how utterly _unprepared_ I was for problems like these. I was handling all these strong and big Grimm, but I hadn't handled _major_ Grimm. Smart ones, intelligent ones, those that had size _and_ brains. I grew complacent—I grew content with my power that I didn't drive myself to take every single experience point.

I took deep breaths to regain my senses. The Grimm below were starting to regroup and they're probably going to start attacking any second. Hana was still frozen beside me, and I can't speak for the people on the other side of the ship. They might be incapacitated.

 _K-keep it together, Crimson,_ Kreutz murmurs inside my head. _We can do this. We can do this._

Hopefully. I swallowed a glob of spit and vomit that had come up when the wave of fear hit. I shakily stood up, my hand grabbing Dust Chamber beside me as the fear left my mind. I took another set of deep breaths before glancing around.

Ruby, from her position up above, had been frozen too, her silver eyes opened wide as she shook. Hana was beside me, her eyes glazed over as she looked at the horizon. I made my decision of who to help first.

I crouched and then jumped up to Ruby's position. Her eyes were similar to Hana's—glazed over as she looked at the rough seas below. Her weapon was hanging limply beside her as she stood in silence. Since she was laid down on the floor, I took her shoulders and put her in a sitting position before shaking her.

"Rubes!" I shouted at her. She blinked lazily as I shook her, the red weapon beside her dropping to the floor of the roof and clanging loudly. "Ruby, come on!"

She blinked again, then her eyes widened as tears came out of her eyes. She hugged me tightly as she sobbed at my chest, and I hugged her with one arm and pat her head with the other. "It's fine," I tried to soothe her. "It's fine."

"I—I froze up—it was… it was everywhere—I was going to _die,_ " She continued to sob uncontrollably at my chest as I uncomfortably tried to comfort her. I wasn't any good at this—but I understood exactly what she felt, so I tried to empathize that to her. "I thought I was going to _die,_ Crimson."

"It's fine," I murmured. "It's not close to us, the only thing here are the Grimm below us."

 **Charisma Check Failure: 3/5**

That might not have been the right thing to say, since she hugged me tighter.

"Come on, Rubes," I tried to coax her out of her shell of fear. "You don't have to fight up front, you can just provide cover fire from up here."

 _Christ,_ I thought. _That thing… Jormungandr… It affected everyone. Whatever it is, it needs to die very soon._

She continued to sob uncontrollably, so I carefully pried off her arms from me and set her down on the floor. She sank to her feet and hugged her knees as she kept sobbing from the fear. I stared with a will of steel at the rough waters below.

 _They hurt my sister. Unacceptable._ I was by no means completely recovered from the storm of fear from awhile ago, but I had to fight these Grimm—I had a quest to complete, and I had to keep her safe.

I activated Dust Chamber. The whole thing, sheathed and all. It was the new upgrade I got for it. I needed a different type of sword other than the sheathe blade and the long sword—now while the two were still connected, the guard elongates to the sides by a few inches, and the edges turn to blades like Chamber when it's separated, and the point extends by several inches and forms a point, the silver edges of the double edged sword glinting at the moonlight.

The red flame like pattern at the bottom of Chamber was much more obvious than before now, and the handle, which was Dust's, still held the dust crystals inside, so I could activate them. I run Aura to the sword to test it out, and the silver lining of the double edged sword glowed green for a few seconds before settling back to its silver color.

The blade was Chamber, and the handle was Dust.

Dust Chamber was a great sword of 5 feet and 6 inches in length, no prongs on the side. It was a straight great sword that I used for big enemies, and I was good enough at Blades that I can use the sword quite well. I held the handle with both hands and held it in front of me, the point lightly stabbed on the floor of the roof as I watched and waited, the sobbing of Ruby behind me strengthening my resolve.

Finally, something happened.

A big whale like creature broke the water's surface, roaring in anger as it did so. My grip on the great sword tightened as I set myself in a stance with the great sword in front of me, blade pointed to the sky. Green energy filled the once silver lining of the double edged sword as I charged it with Aura.

The whale jumped up and exposed its underbelly to me. _Perfect._ The blade was glowing a very bright green as I slashed it forward.

 _PowerStrikeWindBlade!_

The empowered Wind Blade struck the whale's underbelly and vertically cut it in half. The first half fell in the ocean far away from us, while the other half fell closer to us, rocking the boat and knocking Hana at the deck below to the floor.

 **Perk earned: Empowered Wind Blade**

 **A stronger blade of wind… what else is there to know?**

 **+150 EXP**

I dismissed the prompt and waited for another one to pop out. These things should have learned not to completely jump out of the water now, so they'll be attacking the boat from below. A part of me wondered why they didn't just try to penetrate the underside of the ship, but that might just be because they're all whales and none of them have a penetration ability.

The thought comforted me, at least, since I don't have to deal with giant monsters with stinging capabilities.

The thought comforts me again as several whales broke the surface again, only their masks and the top of their bodies showing. Their pitch black coloring made them blend in with the dark waters and the night, but their sheer size, the smallest being at least 30 feet from head to tail, and stark white bone plating was enough to make them visible to me.

I readied my sword as my sword glows a bright green. _Asterisk!_ The four slash combo skill shaped as an asterisk, as the namesake implies, hit the whales that surfaced with the sharp winds that come with it. The green glow of the winds made it known that it was influenced with acid, but I watched with annoyance as the wind bounced off, the acid only lightly fizzling on their armor, melting only a few.

 _I might need to shoot more acid,_ I thought idly as I changed dust types to Ice. _Or freeze them._

I charged up another _Asterisk_ combo and slashed towards the whales. The wind still bounced off, but the ice had taken effect. Ice grew on their backs, making some of the whales groan and sink under the waters. The bigger ones, the ones that were affected less, had stayed up, and were looking quite a bit pissed.

I changed dust types to Acid again and dashed off the roof of the ship, landing deftly on the deck and kicking off the deck. I launched myself to the air, now above the whales as my sword glowed a bright green.

 _Flash Strike!_ With a flash strike, my sword was buried into one of the thing's masks, and I quickly tore it off, taking some of the black flesh and white mask with it. The small chunks fell into the ocean, and the whale Grimm started to dissolve into black matter as I moved to my next target. The second whale still had ice on its tail and its back, so dispatching it was a quick way of stabbing the mask then jumping off to another whale.

The third whale, however, had already broken out of the ice. It glared at me with hate in its eyes. It sunk below the water a bit as I got closer, Dust Chamber held in front of me. When I got close enough, it suddenly jumped out of the water, the top first, which was covered in bone spikes.

 _Power Strike!_ Dust Chamber met the bone spikes in mid air, our attacks clashing for a few seconds before I was thrown back by the sheer strength the monster possessed. I almost landed in the water, but a quick _Vacuum_ solved my problems and made me roughly land back at the deck.

The whale rose up again, but it suddenly roared and sunk back to the waters as I heard sniper fire from the roof above. The bullet whizzed by above me and hit a spot above its mask, the shot burying itself to its head. There was a small spark— _Lightning dust—_ as it took effect, and the whale moaned in pain before sinking in the water, wounded but not dead.

I glanced at the roof of the ship, where Ruby was crouched at. She had her weapon—Crescent Rose, if I remember correctly from her rants during our walk to the dock—deployed at a scythe form and was using the blade as a tripod to stabilize her. She was pointing her weapon towards the whales and firing with no discrimination, lightning piercing the whale's armors and the dust taking effect. It wasn't quite enough, obviously, since the whales were more annoyed than anything.

"Aim for the masks!" I yelled to her. She glanced at me and nodded, reloading a new magazine and taking aim. Satisfied, I jumped back in the fray, intent to take several whales down with me.

The small whales that sunk because of the ice surfaced again, ice gone from their backs. Sniper fire rained from behind me and hit a few small whales directly at the mask. Just as I suspected, the ones that were hit started to dissolve, but I noticed a big whale with a bullet hole at its mask, not yet dying.

 _So the bigger ones either need more bullets to its masks, or I need to completely demolish it._

"Ruby!" I called out to her as I jumped back to the ship. Hana was still recovering at the deck of the ship, eyes wide as she breathed deeply. "The small ones can be killed with a bullet to the mask, you take care of them," I brandish Dust Chamber and charged it with Aura, turning the silver lining green. "I'll get the big ones."

Ruby yelled out her answer. "Okay!" Several sniper shots were fired and I saw a few whales sink to the waters and disintegrate, so I jumped off the deck and into the waters, landing on a small whale and using it to boost me to a big one.

The big whale saw me coming and deflected my sword with a swipe of the spikes on its head. I deflected it but was sent backwards, _barely_ making it so I didn't land in the water. A quick _Vacuum_ sent me back flying towards the Grimm. Dust Chamber glowing a bright green, I initiated a _Power Strike_ and met the spikes in mid air, tearing right through them and burying my sword's blade at its head. It roared in anger and tried to throw me off, succeeding in doing so.

 _Flash Strike!_ Not because I was forced to let go, because I needed to. The flash strike was successful and buried the sword at its mask, and when I tore it off, the attack was successful in cutting up the mask to small pieces. The whale started disintegrating and I jumped off the monster, doing another _Vacuum_ to launch myself to the air.

I used the height to look for more of the big whales—the smaller ones were disintegrating by the masses as Ruby lit them up with her sniper fire, but the bigger ones were hanging back, letting the smaller ones weaken the ship's integrity. They were actually smashing at the ship's side—and I saw several dents on it already.

I land at the ship and break through the captain's deck. Finn was there with his crew members, all their eyes glazed over as they watched the whales bash their ship. If I remember correctly, he said he has cannons in here. Unfortunately for everyone on board, including the crew below, we're all going to be suffering a lot since I have no idea how to use cannons… or drive a ship, really… so I need to wake Finn up to survive better.

"Finn!" I socked him in the shoulder. He blinked and then scowled as he looked at me. "Are you awake yet? Take control of the cannons and shoot the damn whales!"

"Shut up!" He hissed. "We can't fight these things—we're going to die if we do!"

" _We're_ going to die—" the ship shook, and the both of us stumbled. The constant sniper fire from above were disrupted as I heard Ruby cry out in shock as we did so. "If you don't shoot the cannons!"

Finn scowled, but he didn't argue about it. He looked at his crew, who was still frozen, and then back outside. "Get out there, it might take a few minutes before I get my crew back together," I nodded and jumped outside of the window I shattered. There were a few screams inside the captain's deck, and the ship rocked again. I stumbled, but that was about it for the rocking. I jumped off the edge of the ship, my sword shining a bright green as I channeled Aura into it.

I sliced off a small whale's head from top to bottom when it tried to jump me, and I stabbed down to pierce a whale's mask. I tore Dust Chamber off its face and charged my sword again, holding it to my side before releasing it as an _Empowered Wind Blade_ , which tore into several small whales' masks and heads.

Several started disintegrating and a few sunk to the water to recover from their wounds, but I saw the telltale signs of acid damage on their forms, so they may die underwater too.

 _This… is a big horde._

Big might even be an _understatement._ There were so much whales in this pod that I could hardly believe that these are natural—wait, these aren't natural whales so I shouldn't even try to rationalize their pack size…

A small whale jumped up, intent to smash onto the ship's deck. I readied my sword, Aura running across the blade to cut the whale in half—but I didn't have to. I cut off my Aura from completely filling up the blade as I watched Hana glow gold and punch the whale's underbelly.

It was launched to the sky with a hole on its belly, disintegrating into the familiar black matter of dying Grimm.

I glanced at her. She still looked shaken and fearful, but she was recovering since she was fighting. She took a peek at me and nodded. She was completely weaponless, but since she's an unarmed fighter, it doesn't really matter. She glowed gold again as she muttered several things under her breath, punching literal holes on their masks if the whales got too close. I heard clangs and breaths of wind on the other side of the ship, making me glance to their direction. It was Gen and Marco—Gen, who was still wielding the katana with his friggin' crotch, and Marco, who was using a grenade launcher and shooting electric grenades at the water to shock several whales, and blowing—with what I assume to be a semblance—wind at the whales and blowing them back.

I _might_ be a little offended, but I can't really complain.

The whales were starting to be pushed back now—with the combination of our attacks, namely me killing off several whales at once, Ruby's precise sniper shots, Hana's punches of oblivion, and the ninja and fat man's combination, the whales couldn't push the ship back and forth anymore. The fact that there were only a few left was also an added plus.

I tensed as the surface of the water broke to reveal another giant whale. Unlike the previous giant whales, this one was covered in bone white plating. There were no chinks on the top armor, and the spikes on its head part were big, which, again, made me question _why_ the whales just didn't pierce our underside.

It pushed itself to the ship, and Hana punched towards its bone plating. It didn't die—her punch was redirected and Hana held her hand and hissed. Ruby's sniper shots were doing jack shit—so I take point.

Wielding Dust Chamber, I jump above it. The mask should be somewhere below its spikes, so I use that as my reference point. Executing a _Power Strike_ , I launch myself down with wind, my momentum increasing as I continue to fall down, a green streak running across the night sky as I fall.

The combined momentum and _Power_ _Strike_ completely shattered the bone spikes above its head and shattered a few bone plates with it. The power strike faded when it hit the bone spike, but my momentum wasn't done yet, and my sword buried itself on top of its head as I land with a crouch. I pull out my sword again and was thrown back to the ship with a jerk of the whale's head, making me grunt as I skid on my back at the wooden deck.

I stand back up and take a look at my HP. It was just a bit lower than normal—nothing major as of yet, and my Aura wasn't quite as depleted as I imagined it would be, which is also a plus, so I can keep on going if I need to. I take a glance at the giant whale, whose mask was revealed now, and lunge for it.

 _Flash Strike!_

I pierce the whale's mask and immediately flash step to disengage from the dying Grimm. The monster sinks as I slide across the deck of the ship, The whale let out a groan before disintegrating completely, and the smaller whales stopped ramming the ship to look at the last dying giant.

Suddenly, the remaining whales, a meager number of eight from their massive numbers awhile ago, sunk to the bottom of the ocean and began to swim away. I hear the crew inside the ship cheer, and I was almost inclined to as well. I keep my grip on Dust Chamber tight, expecting another horde. I felt a chill run down the back of my spine as I felt it.

It was the same energy from Jormungandr.

The denseness and sheer size of the void was similar to that of the pod of whales that had just run off, and I imagine that we will need those cannons after all.

"Finn!" said Captain peeked out of the broken window and glanced at me with a big smile on his face, which soon disappeared as I told him my next words. "Keep opening the cannons! There's more!"

I hear him faintly curse, and Ruby drops down to my side. "What's going on?" She asked, worried. Her eyes were still a bit red, but she wasn't quite as fearful as before. "Are we still going to fight?" She held Crescent Rose by her side in its scythe form, which she idly fingered.

"Yeah," I confirmed, making her sigh. "Big, might be another—"

The surface of the water broke, revealing a large serpent like Grimm. It was large, easily dwarfing the ship. Probably around 50 feet tall, but thinner in width. Two smaller serpents popped up beside it, both around 30 feet tall, and I sighed.

 **Quest Updated: 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea**

 **Completed: Destroy the Aquatic Grimm horde**

 **Kill all of the Spawn of Jormungandr**

"Great," I muttered. There were shouts from below the deck as the cannons fired shots around it. The serpents showed remarkable maneuverability as they dodged the cannonballs (are those cannonballs?), the explosions around them doing nothing to damage their scales. Two of the serpents went under the water while the large one screeched right at me.

Above it was a nametag.

 **Spawn of Jormungandr**

 **The Serpent of the Sea**

 **Field Boss**

I take a deep breath. "This one's mine," I deactivate Dust Chamber, reducing it back to its normal sheathed state. I unsheathed Dust and activated Chamber, which now had a point and was a bit longer than before. I held Dust at my right and Chamber at my left, then I dashed forward, ignoring Ruby's cries of protest.

The sea dragon screeched and met me in combat. It dodged my first slash towards its head, making me launch way past it. The dragon opened its mouth and looked at me, yellow energy building up inside it.

 _Flash Step!_ I flash stepped to below its mouth just as it fired the energy beam. I felt its heat just above my head, singing my already black hair. I brought Dust up to slice off its head, but it knocked me to the water with said head when I tried to do so.

 _Flash Step!_ I reappeared above its head, Dust raised above its head to cut it off from its neck again. The monster simply retaliated with another whip of its head, knocking me back up the air. The dragon came up below me and tried to bite me, but I escaped with another _Flash Step._

I am using Flash Step quite liberally today.

I reappeared a few meters away from its head, and the sea dragon quickly turned its head to me with its mouth wide open with its electric beam already charging. I combine Dust and Chamber and quickly activate it, turning it into a great sword. I hold it in front of me as the dragon fires it shot, letting me block the beam attack (mostly) successfully.

I was sent flying back and the dragon followed. My clothes were a bit singed from the heat and the sparks of the electric beam, but every other superficial wound was taken care of by my Aura. My sword was fully charged, my Aura siphoning the energy taken from the electric beam and using it to power Dust Chamber. The silver lining of the great sword was tinged with yellow and green, and I intend to use it.

 _EmpoweredWindBlade!_ A powerful vertical slash towards the monster brought out a blade of wind that's going towards it. The monster simply weaved out of the way of the attack, but I quickly capitalized its moment of distraction to execute a flash strike, piercing its neck part and making it screech.

I'm above it now, and Dust Chamber above me, going down on a dangerous arc towards the monster's head. The sea dragon attempted to retaliate by shoving its head back up again, but it met my great sword in the middle of it. The two clashed for a moment before the dragon roared and moved out of the way, letting my sword hit the part below its neck.

My sword buried a bit deep on its neck, black gas leaking out of the wound. The dragon quickly shook me off itself, and I had to use _Vacuum_ to drag myself back on the ship. Idly, I noticed that team FHHM and Ruby were taking care of the two lesser dragons nicely, but I have no time to help them with that as of yet.

I dash forward and jump off the boat again. The 50 foot monster was still there and attempting to unsuccessfully recover from its small wound, which was leaking more black gas to the air. I narrowed my eyes as I closed in, and executed a _Power Strike_ while I was flying.

The monster saw me coming, however, and screeched angrily at me. It fired a quick burst of yellow energy, making my eyes widen and block it with my already charged sword.

My power strike canceled, and the energy that I tried to siphon disappeared. I cursed and held my sword in front of me to block the incoming head bash, which made me fly back to the direction of the boat. I throw myself back up with _Vacuum_ , dodging a powerful beam of electricity that was coming too close for comfort towards me.

While I was going up, I quickly changed dust types to ice. Acid isn't much use here since the dragon keeps blocking my acid based attacks, and it looks like it just deflects most wind based attacks too. I need to freeze its head and body then destroy the mask.

The dragon roared at me and charged up another beam of electricity while I run Aura through the sword. Dust Chamber glows a bright blue as it falls down on an arc towards the monster, my face set in a frown as I tried to target its head specifically.

The monster fired its laser, and I used the wind to push me to the side. I fell past its head and towards its part that was submerged in the ocean. Cursing, I hit the middle part of its body, making it roar even more as it froze.

The body from half to bottom froze, freezing some of the ocean with it, too. The monster struggled to break free of the ice, and the temporary glacier cracked as it did so. I landed on the ice patch, making me grunt as the ice cracked and rocked back and forth. I stood up and dusted myself off, grabbing Dust Chamber from my side and crouching.

I looked up. The dragon's head was just above me, and it was a good time as any to finally end this fight. I change dust types back to acid, my sword glowing a bright green after I did so. I jump up, the ice under me breaking from the pressure of the jump.

 _FlashStrikePowerStrike!_ My sword hooks below the head of the dragon, and it roars as it did so. My momentum, however, keeps bringing me upward, and the dragon with me. I was too fast, too strong for the monster. I brought it with me in the air, and it roars in contempt. My sword starts going through its neck, more black gas being released to the air.

Finally, the Power Strike and Flash Strike combo faded. There was no perk prompt for it, unfortunately. My sword was still in the monster's neck, but the sea dragon solved it by forcing more energy to its mouth, making my eyes widen as it shot its beam of energy at me.

 **-34 HP**

Thank god for damage resistances.

The attack exploded at point blank range, throwing me to the ocean when it did so. I kept my hold tight on Dust Chamber, careful not to release it. I sank deeper on the ocean, and for a moment, I saw the Grimm's bottom half, and I'm inclined to cut it off.

Too bad that I'm not very useful underwater.

 _FlashStrike!_ Flashing too fast that the water that I passed through didn't even displace yet after I executed the perk, I reappeared a bit above the sea. Executing another _Flash Strike_ , I appeared in front of the dragon's face, who was already charging an electric attack. It's eyes narrowed, and the energy output increased immensely. I charged up Aura to my sword, making it burn a bright green color as it did.

 _Empowered Wind Blade!_ I make sure to pump much more Aura into the attack, and it shows it in its sheer size and density. It was dense—very visible to the human eye, a mix of gray and green that cast a low glow on the surrounding night sky. The dragon fired its shot, which advanced towards my Empowered Wind Blade attack, and both _exploded._

Unfortunately for the dragon, I still had Aura, and unfortunately for the dragon, my attack was faster than its own, so they met point blank in front of it.

I was sent flying back as the attack exploded, the winds pushing me further to the ship. The attack exploded and blew the dragon's head up, destroying the brain and hopefully the dragon itself. It fell back to ocean, dissolving into black matter as I used _Vacuum_ to throw myself back to the ship.

I land roughly, making me grunt as I tried to stand up. I'm a bit sore on places, but otherwise, I'm unharmed. I look around me and saw that cannons were out and about, some smoking from their barrels and others look broken. Ruby was beside Hana, who were both glancing at me, and both looked a bit worse for wear, though their Aura seems to have healed most of their wounds at this point. Ruby was looking at me with a particular look in her eyes when I sat up.

She dashed towards me, leaving behind a trail of rose petals as she did so. "Omigosh! That was so cool!"

I sniffed as I stood up, grabbing the hem of my sleeveless shirt. It was wet with salt water, which was annoying as hell to clean. "That was a bit more difficult than most jobs," it wasn't as difficult as other named quests, but she doesn't need to know that yet. The only difficult thing I found here was fighting in the ocean, because I can't grab a foothold in most positions unless I make one with ice, and those are typically one use types of platforms.

"A bit, he says," Hana muttered behind me. "I know you now. You're the masked Huntsman, aren't you?"

I froze, and so did Ruby. "No," I don't really need that much recognition right now. If they know it, they could spread around my identity and that would be a hassle to shut up. "I'm pretty sure I'm not."

"You suck at lying, kid," Hana rolled her eyes as she rolled her shoulders. "I know your dual swords, I fought those at the docks. Can't believe I lost to a kid back then."

"We were a bad match up," I told her, stretching out my arms. "You were too slow for me."

Hana barked out a laugh. It didn't sound particularly mad or hollow, but it was a bit annoyed as far as I could tell. "Kid, we were all too far slow to fight you. I'm not sure that's what the advantage is."

I shrugged. "Then I don't know what to tell you."

The water was calm now, and I focus on my Sensor ability to sense out any further threats. Unless they know my specific distance of sensing, there weren't any monsters surrounding us anymore. I heaved a sigh and fell down on my back at the ship's deck, Ruby sitting right beside me.

"Finally," I sighed. "It's over."

 **Quest Completed: 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea**

 **Completed: Kill all of the Spawn of Jormungandr**

 **+30000 EXP**

* * *

 _Patch_

* * *

"So… you're the Masked Huntsman?" Ruby asked, giddy. Finn was kind enough to drop us off at Patch after an introduction to him and his crew. Finn announced that he would never forget us, though he wouldn't forget Ruby for her kindness, he wouldn't forget me for being a dick, which was fair enough.

"I guess," I run a hand across my hair as we follow the worn path. "I don't get what's so special about it."

Ruby gasped, scandalized. "You beat a notorious criminal and a giant spider and there's nothing special about it?" She threw her hands up on the air. "Only you, Crimson!"

"How come you're not this snarky with other people, Ruby?" I rolled my eyes as I ruffled her hair, making her giggle.

We reach the log house with a bit of small talk, and I hesitated to knock on the door.

"Come on, Crimson," Ruby encouraged me with a smile. "They'll be happy to have you back."

 _Knock knock knock._

" _Coming!"_ I hear a female voice behind the door. I shuffled uncomfortably as I hear footsteps coming from behind it. The knob turns, and I'm faced with a blonde woman.

"Hey there, Yang."

* * *

 _ **A/N**_

 _ **Hello,**_

 _ **Late upload, but I fell asleep on the 21st so I couldn't write more.**_

 _ **I'm going to start putting out trivia about the chapter, though.**_

 _ **And I'm gonna put down Fun Facts about the story in this chapter to try to atone for the late upload lol :v**_

 _ **Anyway, to the story**_

 _ **Jormungandr is a force of nature—not really the main villain, and as the nametag said, an Endgame Boss. So it won't be around by much, only on snippets.**_

 _ **The three (four) stooges are reintroduced without much dialogue, RIP. Crimson is an asshole to other people.**_

 _ **Crimson is recognized by one of the three stooges, and Ruby finally knows that her 'idol' was actually her brother :v**_

 _ **There's nothing really to explain here, isn't there?**_

 _ **Anyway… questions!**_

 _ **Crimson could encounter more memes yes. Memes are a staple of my bored life so they're bound to reappear and appear from time to time.**_

… _**and that's it! Now, for the Fun Facts!**_

 _ **~About the Story~**_

 _ **1\. Crimson was written not based on me because I'm a happy person in general, but based on a rl friend of mine who's a friggin' edgelord**_

 _ **2\. Crimson's theme is Oriental Shade**_

 _ **3\. Hearts Kreutz is based on no one in particular, but his build is that of the typical Gamer INT/WIS with a tertiary focus on VIT.**_

 _ **4\. This story is written without much planning, only guidelines. So basically, I just write whatever LOL**_

 _ **5\. Crimson is an avid video gamer when he's not on a mission**_

 _ **6\. He does NOT have PTSD**_

 _ **7\. Crimson is usually pretty chill, but he gets annoyed easily**_

 _ **8\. I write most of the fight scenes on this story with music backing it. E.G I wrote this one by listening to RLR Part 2 like, three times in a row. And I wrote the Crimson vs. Flandre with U.N. Owen Was Here?! on repeat. Other songs used in fight scenes are "Shoot through the Galaxy, Final Master Spark!" (which is Hearts Kreutz theme song :v), this will be the day, From Shadows, and Vairo – Raindance.**_

 _ **9\. I have a stat sheet for Crimson on my phone which I update mostly every chapter.**_

 _ **10\. The story originally wasn't going to have the four parts of the gamer's ability spread apart, but it was going to have different parts of a story. Plot Device (which is the gamer ability), Plot Armor (which was Venn Tori's (or whatever his name was going to be)) which NEVER let the user die, and Tropes.**_

 _ **11\. CGoR was originally going to be very meta as well, but I scrapped that idea.**_

 _ **12\. CGoR is a mishmash of different stuff and my own ideas added in to the mix**_

 _ **13\. As I said on an Author's note in chapter 1, this is somewhat based on Fulcon's SHINOBI: THE RPG**_

 _ **14\. I was going to have Crimson be an orphan on the streets, but I scrapped the idea since I have no idea how to do that realistically lol**_

 _ **15\. How I write: Write 100 words, go to YouTube, get a stroke of inspiration, write 900 more words, leave it for a few days, come back with all of the inspiration and get it to 5000 or 6000, then come back before the deadline and write it up to finish it.**_

 _ **16\. Crimson likes reading books, though his reasons are different than Ruby's.**_

 _ **~END~**_

 _ **Aaaand… I might just put out more fun facts next chapter, but I think that's about it!**_

 _ **Take this story with a grain of salt,**_

 _ **Story is Semi-Serious so don't take it too serious,**_

 _ **Reviews are appreciated, but not necessary.**_


	10. Patching Up

_A/Ns at the bottom of the chapter_

* * *

 _Roosterteeth owns RWBY, obviously_

 _I own Crimson… and the OCs in this story._

 _That's pretty much what I own in this literary work._

* * *

"Hey there, Yang."

The plain greeting from her awkward brother shocked Yang a bit as she took a few seconds to observe the man standing in front of her home. Black hair, red eyes, black sleeveless skintight shirt (which she approved of), a red cape, black pants, steel vambrace with black gloves, a black-red sheath and boots—well, there was little denying the practicality of the clothes, but the one who was wearing them…

"Crim…?" she whispered, an unidentifiable emotion laced in her voice (an emotion she didn't want to admit to, anyway).

"Uh… yeah." He shuffled awkwardly, and Yang saw a small mop of black-red hair behind him as he did so. "It's me."

"Crim…" a small grin formed on her face as she clenched her fist. His eyes glanced at her, confused, before she buried her fist to his stomach, making him choke as he coughed. The girl behind him—Ruby—started giggling. "Welcome back, little bro!"

"I'm a few minutes older than you," he wheezed as he held his stomach. He coughed a few times, and Yang _might_ have felt a little bad, if she didn't knew he could take it, of course. He wheezed a few more times before taking a deep breath and standing up straight. "What was that for?"

"That," She put a finger on his chest, making him raise a brow as he looked down on her. He was a bit taller, but only a bit. A bit."Was for _not_ leaving a message on the past four years!"

He flinched when she finished her sentence. He rubbed the back of his head as he gave his reasoning. "I, uh, was busy…" she narrowed her eyes and he chuckled nervously. "Busy… yeah."

Yang simply narrowed her eyes as she continued to watch Crimson simply scratch the back of his neck in nervousness, mumbling some things below his breath that the blonde girl couldn't catch.

"Crim…"

"Uh, yeah?" He stops scratching the back of his neck when his sister barreled into him and hugged him tightly. He wheezed for breath as he lightly slapped the back of his sister. "Air—air!"

Yang snickered and tightened her hug. Ruby idly noted that her black haired brother was turning a little blue. _What did Dad say about that again? Wait…_

"Wait!" Ruby cried out. "Don't kill Crimson yet! He has a bunch of stories to tell!"

" _Yet?"_ said brother wheezed. He gasped for more breath as Yang slowly crushed his bones. "What do you mean, _yet?!"_

After a few more minutes of Ruby trying to pry Yang off Crimson, and a few incidents where said boy's vision went completely dark, the blonde finally stopped crushing the teen and smirked at her brother. _He's definitely grown,_ the female twin thought fondly. _More ways than one, too! If only he stayed here in Patch, we could've dominated Signal… in reputation and combat!_ She wanted to giggle at the thought—while she wasn't really attracted to her brother, it couldn't stop her brain from recognizing that she wasn't the only one that got the family's good looks.

"Wow, I would've thought that you've gotten better during the four years!" She chirped. Crimson sighed in annoyance as he nursed his stomach and continued to breathe the air he so wanted.

"I don't think anyone would expect a hug from the enemy, Yang," he grumbled. Yang laughed instead and slapped him on the shoulder, making him wince as he nursed his shoulder too. "Okay—please, don't do that, my Aura can only heal so much damage in one day… and we just got back from an extermination mission."

Yang perked up at that and raised a yellow brow. Beside Crimson, Ruby froze as the situation finally sunk in, and then fell into despair when she realized what Yang would do when she eventually found out what they did…

"Mission? What mission?" Yang asked, deceptively innocent. "You guys took a Bullhead to get here, right? Dad took care of a Kraken problem on the sea, so that couldn't be the mission."

Ruby tugged on her brother's shirt to no avail. She saw the look on Yang's eyes and she was not fooled in the slightest. "We didn't get to kill a Kraken, which I'm sure Ruby's pretty bummed about, but we did get conscripted to fight—mmph!" Ruby's hand covered Crimson's mouth. The silver eyed girl laughed nervously as Yang's eyes narrowed again, a sickening grin covering her face.

"I think you and I are going to have a talk about being safe, Crimson," Yang smiles, and Crimson felt a shiver run down his back.

* * *

 _6 days until Beacon_

* * *

My eyes fluttered open as the sunlight shone down on me, making me grumble in annoyance and turn around to avoid the annoying light from my apartment window. I stretch in place, still laid down on my admittedly small bed, messing up the covers.

I yawned and smacked my lips. I'm still a bit groggy, but this won't do. I have things to do… people to see. My brain can't process things correctly yet; I need breakfast. Quickly.

I sit up and glance outside. The building normally blocking the sun was gone; was it demolished overnight? I must have been more tired than I thought.

I yawned again and rubbed my eyes, still in my black shirt and green shorts. I pushed open the door and went downstairs— _when did the landlord get me a basement,_ I mused—and went right for the kitchen immediately.

I opened a cabinet and stretched my back, some bones popping into place. My eyes half lidded, I feel around the cabinet and fish out a canned good. _Corned beef? Sounds good to me._ I close the cabinet slowly and crouch to open the cabinet below, where I know the potatoes should be.

I frowned. The potatoes aren't where they should be—but thankfully, there's a bunch of onions and garlic in here. I grab 3 cloves of garlic and a whole onion and 2 small potatoes and close the door. I yawned once more as I grabbed the chopping board and set my ingredients on a table.

I grabbed a knife from the washer and went to work.

I blinked blearily as I pressed the flat of the knife on the cloves of garlic, pressing it against the cutting board. I crushed the cloves and peeled off the remaining skin and put it in a plastic bowl so I could throw it away later. I peeled off the skin of the onion and put it in the same container and set my eyes on the potatoes.

I took a skinner from the same dishwasher— _I actually don't remember when I bought one—_ and rest the blades against the potato before dragging it down, peeling away the skin of the potato. I hummed a soft tune to myself as I blinked my eyes. The sun felt good on my body as I peeled the potatoes, warmth spreading all across my body.

As soon as the potatoes were peeled, I set them down on the chopping board and went to work. I cut the potatoes in half then chopped them into little squares, putting them on a separate plate so I can cut the cloves of garlic. The crushed garlics were minced into tiny pieces and set aside, then I proceeded to work on the onion.

I chopped the tip of the onion then threw it in with the other peeled skin and chopped it in half. I proceeded to cut off little strips of onion carefully, which, thankfully, isn't very hard at all. I liberated oil from a cabinet and lit a fire at the stove, setting down a pan at the open flames.

 _Kreutz,_ I asked sleepily. _What do you think I'm missing right now?_

 _Salt. You're missing salt._ He informed me, amused. I was momentarily confused by his tone, but then realized I only have a few minutes before the pan was hot enough, and I did _not_ want to burn the onion and garlic.

I poured down a pool of oil at the pan and yawned again as I dropped the minced garlic and chopped onion into the fray. The food sizzled and popped as I mixed the two with a spatula I found at the dishwasher, the smell working its way to my nose and making me sigh in content. I lightly add in some salt and mix them up again, sighing once more as the smell lingered.

As soon as the garlic went brown, I dropped in the potatoes. The sizzles died down, and some of the potatoes stuck to the pan. I hummed as I kept mixing the garlic-onion-potato combo, unaware of my surroundings. After half a minute, I weakened the fire and took the can of corned beef. It was big enough, probably.

 _Add another one,_ Kreutz suggested. _You're expecting guests today._

I blinked. _Really? I don't remember giving anyone my address._

Kreutz stifled a laugh. _Crimson… where are you?_

 _In my… apartment…_ the thought trailed off as I finally woke up and realized that _I was not at my house._

"Oh," It was a statement of fact, really. The food sizzling on the pan and the can on my hand, while what I normally do on an off day, was not what I _always_ do. I might have thought of it before I slept, hence why my mind went on autopilot as soon as I woke up. I wordlessly grabbed another can of corned beef and, with the knife, opened both cans without much trouble, dropping the two cylinders of corned beef to the pan.

As I mixed the corned beef with the others, I turned my head around to see my family already sitting down at the dinner table, looking at me attentively.

"So, uh…" I hesitantly started. "No one saw this, right?"

Yang grinned. "We did!"

I took a deep breath through my nose as my family started chatting behind me. I turned the stove off and carefully tipped the pan to a big bowl, using the spatula to grab the remaining potatoes. I wordlessly served the cooked corned beef to the dinner table.

"I didn't know you could cook," Taiyang—dad—casually stated. He took a bite from my cooking and hummed in appreciation. "Feels like it's missing something, though."

"Rice," I revealed off handedly. I glance at them to watch their reactions. "I usually cook some rice from Mistral with this, but I just realized that you probably don't have any. Wheat bread should work fine for these, though."

"Well, it's not as good as cookies," Ruby took my advice and took a piece of bread and stuck a spoonful of corned beef in the middle. "But it's a start!" I don't think anything would be better than cookies for Ruby, but that might just be me.

I shrugged. "There's not much to expect from a canned good, anyway," I take two slices of bread and spread some corned beef then pressed the two slices against each other. I bit into the edge of it and started munching down the literal homemade breakfast. "It's something I do sometimes when I'm bored in my apartment."

"You have an apartment?" it was Yang that asked the question this time. "How'd you afford one? Did Uncle Qrow buy it for you?"

I paused in my eating to swallow. "Didn't I just say I was a Huntsman last night, Yang?" my gaze settles on dad as I say this, an uncomfortable feeling pooling on my stomach. He doesn't look perturbed or annoyed—not showing any expression, really. His face was scarily blank. "I get money from the missions I take. Extermination missions net a lot of money—I even saved a few thousand lien for my own use," I paused at that before adding another thought. "I can give some of my lien to you guys, I don't use much of it anyway."

"Mhm," Dad smiles neutrally at me. "And where was Qrow in… your missions?"

"Doing… something of importance," I couldn't really say that he was working as Ozpin's spy, can I? I have a feeling it would land me in more hot water than I already am in. And the hot water wouldn't originate from Taiyang, either. "He does that a lot. That—and he's probably here, teaching them."

He hummed in acceptance, but I noticed the steel in his eyes, an almost cruel smile blooming on his face. I silently prayed to whatever god existed in this plane to protect Qrow. "That sounds nice."

I breathed out a sigh of relief as I finished up my bread. I was about to grab another one, but paused and realized that Dad was still silently stewing in his annoyance and that my two sisters were still engaged in conversation. I told Ruby beforehand that she shouldn't tell the rest of our family that I was the Masked Huntsman—mainly because I don't want them accidentally saying it to the wrong people.

It's not that I don't trust them—I'd much rather Ruby forget that I was the Masked Huntsman at all. But I have a sinking feeling that I was being watched this past couple months, and I don't want my family talking to the wrong kinds of people.

"I'm going to go to my room," I announced. Dad's reaction was a simple grunt, and Yang glanced at me curiously. I trudged up the stairs and opened the door to my room—

Right after I did, a red portal opened near the window, and I had a feeling that I knew exactly who it was. Go figure.

 _What does she want this time?_

I quietly close the door and lock the knob, Raven fully exiting the portal by the time I do so. I grab the swivel chair by my desk and keep my hand on Dust Chamber just in case things get hairy. I keep my eyes on her. She hadn't taken a wardrobe change since I saw her back then, I idly noted.

"So," I started, casually fingering Dust Chamber's handle. "Wouldn't Dad notice you here?"

"Would I have went right to your room if he could?" She retorted without any real malice in her tone. I shrugged and ran a hand across my hair.

"I'unno. Yang does a lot of crazy stuff—some with planning, and others without," I replied tonelessly. "You know—Yang, my sister, just right below my room?"

She hummed, but her expression was carefully guarded. "Maybe I have some influence in that," She admitted. She took a seat on the side of my bed and relaxes a bit… before lying down and sighing in relief.

... wait, "What?" I said in confusion. "What the hell are you doing?"

"Lying down on your bed," She murmured. She turns around to face the wall and stretches, grabbing a stray pillow and putting it under her head. "Five minutes."

"Five—" I made a frustrated sound. "You can't sleep in my bed! They're right down there! I thought you didn't want to get found!"

"I don't," her words were starting to get more muffled and muffled as she buried her head in my pillows. "I just want to sleep in a real bed for once… the tribe is getting awfully annoying lately, especially that annoying girl…"

I sighed in annoyance, my palm covering my face. "Mom—you can't _do_ this. I have no clue what would happen if someone finds you."

"Then just stay here, it's not like a teenage boy has much to do, anyway," She pauses. "Other than m—"

"Nope," I cut her off quickly.

"It's a perfectly nor—"

"No, mom. We are _not_ having this talk right now."

"I suppose," after that, she goes silent. She wasn't quite vulnerable—but she wasn't _very_ alert either. It's like sleeping with one eye open, I think. I should know—especially since I do that a lot during missions.

Otherwise, she looked quite peaceful. She had turned over and was now facing the ceiling and not buried in my pillows. Her hands weren't on her sword like I always see her as, but instead hugging a long pillow that I kept for the same purpose.

 _She either trusts me too much, or she doesn't think I'm a threat._ I thought, amused.

 _Don't kid yourself,_ Kreutz snorted inside my head. _God knows you wouldn't attack her—not right now, anyway._

 _Touche._

True to her words, she didn't sleep for more than five minutes. In that five minutes, I had dressed into my combat clothes sans the mask and attached Dust Chamber to my side. I had also already taken out my scroll to watch an animation video about a certain Mistralian bullet hell game. I think it was called To Who? I don't quite remember. It doesn't help that the video barely mentions it.

When she woke up, she had done a huge yawn and lightly smacked her lips. She grabbed her sword from her side and stood up from my bed. I glanced at her when she paused before opening a portal to leave. She glances at me, and I raise a brow.

She sighs as if I missed something completely important to the story of my life.

 **Charisma Check Failure: 3/4**

… this ability really loves reminding me, doesn't it?

"Goodbye, Crimson," She slashes her sword down, a red portal opening quickly as she did. I paused my video and looked at her as she went in.

"… goodbye, mom," I see a slight change in her expression—a twitch of the lips—but that's all I got before the portal closed, and we weren't to see for an indefinite amount of time.

 _This isn't going to become a recurring thing… isn't it? I don't want my rooms to be mom's personal lounges. That would get old pretty quickly._ I paused in my line of thought and scrunched up my face. _God, I hope I didn't jinx myself with that._

"Well…" I sighed as I stood up. My mom left a memory on my bed it seems—a note.

 _Summer._

What did surrogate mom have to do with anything?

* * *

 _4 days before Beacon_

* * *

"C'mon, Crim!" Yang grinned at me ferociously. "I wanna spar!" She was basically bouncing on her heels as she said so, generous _assets_ bouncing as she did.

I wisely did not comment on her growth—one, because I did not want to get hit, two, because I wasn't a pervert. , and she's my sister, which would make the comment sound weird seven ways to hell, none of them pleasant.

Her fiery attitude was rubbing off on me, and I really wanted to just accept her challenge right now and beat her down, but the years have tempered my fuse, and I am not so easily goaded into accepting a easy challenge. "Maybe," Crap, maybe not as tempered as I hoped to.

My twin is wearing her own combat outfit now—a tan jacket that exposes her midriff, black shorts, brown boots, and what I can tell as her weapons in their standard form as bracers on her wrists. Currently, we were in the commercial district of Patch, coming back from a quick trip to the convenience store to grab a few rubber bands for dad (though I really don't want to know why he needs it). She was walking a bit ahead of me, her head turned slightly to me, but alert to her front. It helps that no one tries to get in the way of two obvious huntsmen (and one in training).

Speaking of, my dad and twin still don't know that I'm the Masked Huntsman… I guess Ruby _can_ hold her tongue after all! I just need to keep bribing her with sweets and it should be fine.

"Maybe?" Yang grinned, her eyes switching from its normal lilac color to a hot red. "I didn't hear a no!"

"You didn't hear a definite answer, either," I retorted. I rolled my shoulder which was holding the cloth bag which carried an absurd amount of rubber bands (which once again, will not be questioned by me). The items inside ruffled a bit as Yang laughs freely.

"Witty ass," She jabs at me with a smile.

"Cow," I smirk as she gasps in faux hurt.

"Crimson!" She dramatically puts a hand over her mouth as she says my name. "You've insulted my honor!"

"That's great, but with the way you dress, I'm not sure if you have honor."

Silence.

"Jerk!" Yang socked my in the arm as she laughed. No one really got offended by each other (much, anyway). We both know that neither of us are being serious, which is all well and good, because I know a certain other person that can't handle a joke or several.

As we follow the worn path back home, I notice a newer path—one that I didn't notice before really.

 _Kind of like it popped up overnight…_

The path was clean, not worn. Not a lot of people have traveled it, quite obviously. Yang eyes it curiously, confirming my thoughts that it wasn't here before.

"I didn't know there was a path here," I mused. "I'm thinking this is a new addition?

"Yeah," Yang answered, still looking down the road. "It's been here for a few days, but I've never really gone down it. I could probably explore it, but I'd rather not. I have more important things to do, anyway."

 **Quest Added: The Road Not Taken**

 **Investigate the new pathway… what could it be?**

Is the game trying to interact with me, or is it just evolving in its annoyingness? Frankly, I don't really know. Kreutz didn't seem to have this problem before, in his quests, all of the skill descriptions having been apparently made that way by the previous creators, which kind of miffed me a bit. Apparently, all named skills (or perks) have been already made before, the only ones being original were the ones that haven't been seen or done before.

 _At least I have_ one _original skill,_ I idly note as I keep watching the path. "You go on ahead," I tell Yang casually, fingering my sword. "I'll see you at home."

She glances at me worriedly. "Are you sure? I doubt that something this weird is going to be that safe," She states a valid point. To be honest—I'm a little apprehensive of that fact too, but given that a quest added itself to my notes, I might as well grab the experience.

Who knows, maybe it'll be the first peaceful quest in my life.

Probably not, but it's good to hope.

"I'll be fine," I tried to dismiss her worries with a hand gesture. "I'll just check it out and go back home."

She eyes me warily and grabs the plastic bags from me. "Alright… come back home safe, okay?"

"I mean, I came back home, right?" I smirked as she tries to sock me on the shoulder again. "Alright Yang, see you," With those words, I venture to the road.

I look behind me and see my twin's long yellow hair disappear to the right and sigh. I focus on my sensor trait, feeling nothing but the natural Aura in nature. I narrowed my eyes as I fingered Dust Chamber, the feeling of something _odd_ still in my senses.

 _This shouldn't be here,_ my mind chanted. _It's not safe._

Nevertheless, I follow the road less traveled. I probably went a kilometer or few before frowning.

Patch may be a safe island, but there was always the occasional Grimm around. Not the big ones, thankfully, but Beowolves, some Ursa, the occasional Ursa Major, but they're still Grimm and still deadly to civilians, which the local government continuously warns them about. Oddly enough, there wasn't one in the immediate vicinity or within my senses.

 _Where does this road lead, anyway?_

I slowed down. The Aura around here felt different—more natural, so to say. Like there was something giving them _life_ , though what it is, I bet I would find out in a few minutes. I transition to a run as I try to follow the source of the energy, the road seemingly leading right to it.

At this point, even _I_ felt it—positive energy flowing out in bounds—as if someone was sleeping peacefully. Then the energy around me changed—and so did the nature around me too. Negativity, the winds blew harder, the trees dropped and, after trying to stop the wind from blowing, I _couldn't_ control these winds. It's never done that before, so I was honestly a bit surprised when it resisted.

A bit more prodding in the winds finally made it still—the energy around me was still negative—still downtrodden.

Still _fearful._

I quicken my pace.

A few hundred or so more meters passed by in a minute, my Agility doing its work. I skid to a stop and dive to the foliage to my right as I come across an open clearing, smoke rising up from the middle of it. It was from a campfire.

Surrounding it were several tents— _bandits—_ and several thugs dressed in what looked to be civilian clothes with leather armor strapped above said clothes. Most of the thugs held melee weapons—swords, a spear, several halberds—and a rare few held guns.

 _This could work well in my favor,_ I mused.

The feeling of negativity was still in the air—but the Grimm didn't come. The sky wasn't blanketed in storm clouds, the sun still shined down on the people, but it felt as if a storm was coming—and I don't know why…

Well, maybe I do.

 _Summer._

The sun was… a bit hotter than normal, actually… was this what mom meant?

I unstrap Dust Chamber as I did a headcount of all the bandits I could see out of their tents. _26—there may be more inside the tents. This will be a piece of cake._

But before I rain hell on the bandits, I listen.

"… you think we gonna do to that chick we got?"

"We're gonna sell 'er, dipshit. What did you think we would do?"

"I'unno…" the man that said that gained a lecherous grin on his face. "She was kinda hot, so…"

The other bandit just laughed obnoxiously as I crinkled my nose. that challenged my own moral compass. That would make the incoming beat down much more satisfying to do.

The two morons walked off, chatting about some other random stuff. Rumors and gossip circulating around their bandit tribe, apparently—none useful for me to keep listening to. _Wonder if this is what my mom's tribe is like,_ I thought as I snuck through the foliage, keeping myself undetected from the bandits.

From what I gathered, there should be a bandit leader—these idiots should have a hierarchy of some sort, since I doubt a weak willed man could keep control of a rowdy crowd (or a weak man in general). He could be tougher than all of them combined—or just tougher than a regular old bandit. Who knows?

I check the pockets in my cape for some extra dust. I felt some electric dust, ice dust, and extra acid dust (which I made sure _not_ to send aura into). Opening the revolving chamber revealed that I was low on gravity dust, which made me remind myself to restock on it.

I replaced the gravity dust with some electric dust and kept it set on said dust. I closed the chamber and let go of my cape.

Squinting, I try to make out where the boss would be. _If this is a bandit tribe—the boss might have the biggest tent of the bunch just for superiority, but since they're on Patch, they might be a bit smarter and tougher, so be on your guard._

That's true, I suppose. It would have been incredibly difficult to get to Patch, since there's really only two ways you can get into it—the airfield, or the ports, and both ways have checkpoints before you can get to the real residential area of Patch. Our own home was a bit ways away from the main area of Patch, so the guards don't really check here. That means these bandits have a ship of some kind—or a Bullhead—which signifies someone that has knowledge on how to fly a VTOL or sail a ship.

 _Well… might not be easier, but I hope it isn't too hard. I don't sense anyone inside there that has a massive amount of Aura except…_

My senses focused on that one signature… it was accompanied with a smaller, more familiar one, and a smaller childlike one. Another had a dark quality, but it wasn't anything to be scared of. The dark Aura was closer to the small signatures, which might signify a hostage situation. Those signatures were in the middle of the camp.

That wasn't what surprised me, though. It wasn't what made me wary.

It was what I felt from the massive Aura signature.

It was warm… fuzzy. Something you'd feel on a warm, summer day. I could practically feel the winds blowing against my back, the leaves tickling my face as I bask in the sun. But I could also feel the searing heat on one of those worse days—the sun burning against my skin and the winds strong enough to throw me to the ground. The leaves were sharp, leaving stings on my body and the ground was nowhere near comfortable for me to lie down on.

It was an odd experience… but I only felt this way when Qrow brought in a special someone to Beacon.

That special someone was an injured Fall maiden.

 _This just makes the quest more interesting…_

 **Quest Updated: The Road Not Taken**

 **Completed: Investigate the new pathway… what could it be?**

 **Save the Summer Maiden**

Well no shit, I guess.

My eyes zero in the middle of the bandit camp. My first priority is extraction, and I have no idea what the time limit is and what they're doing inside that tent. I can safely guess that it shouldn't be too dangerous, since I doubt the Summer maiden would be easily ignored unless she's unconscious or being threatened.

The time limit could be infinite for all I know, but I'll have to work on the theory that I have an hour or less. Anything more could be a risk to the maiden's wellbeing and that's a risk that I'm not going to take very easily.

Another set of guards make their pass, and I dive out of the foliage when they got far enough. I stood up and dusted myself off. My black clothes stood out against the natural colors of the trees and I don't think I could just sneak around here since the sun is shining against the camp.

 _It'd be hard to sneak around—I guess I'll be leaning on the incompetence of the bandits._

I smoothly snuck to their camp—the guards haven't noticed me yet. I appear to be near a campfire, a bit to the eastern side of the bandit tribe. The guards here seem more relaxed and were cooking some kind of meat over a campfire. They were jovial and unaware, which was perfect for me.

 _Middle of the camp. You don't have to deal with these bandits yet._

Or rather, I couldn't, really. If I tried busting out my high tier moves, I could seriously hurt the innocents—namely the Summer maiden. I have no idea how strong I am compared to a maiden, but I don't want to risk doing some unnecessary damage to her lest I get fucked and she doesn't cover my back.

I easily walk behind some tents and pass by the crowd of bandits. That bumped up the 26 I saw earlier to a good 30—and focusing on the sensor trait for a few moments net me a dozen more sleeping inside their tents. That should be around 40 or more bandits inside this camp— _that's an awful lot. Careless too. I'm leaning towards the VTOL pilot or sailor idea now instead of port and airfield security being a lot less loose._

I reach the inner ring of the bandit camp—security here was more alert. A few guards patrolled the perimeter and there weren't any sleeping or chilling guards inside the tents close. There was around a 20 feet distance away from the boss tent—which easily isolated it. There were two buff bandits guarding the entrance to the tent, and three guards passing every two minutes.

 _I need to knock out the two guards in quick succession… then extract the maiden just in time to knock out the passing guards…_

 _Or I could knock them all out at once to stop any trouble from rising and keep this a stealth mission._

As I contemplated my decision, I hear a rustle and a snicker behind me. It wasn't anyone I felt familiar, so I immediately lashed out with Dust Chamber. It unstrapped quickly and hit the bandit on the stomach, making him spit up some liquid and gasp before I grabbed his mouth and smashed his head to the ground. The guards didn't see me.

The man tried to shout with my hand over his mouth, but I quickly knocked his head on the ground again. Blood leaked from somewhere on his head, and his eyes glazed over. _Concussion?_

I didn't let him live, however, as I quickly snapped his neck and hid the body behind some bushes. Guessing by the careless way and glory hounding ways he had, I guess he's a lone wolf type—or maybe an outcast. No one would miss him. This beating encouraged me to knock out all the guards in the immediate area—then kill the bandit leader. I glanced to the left and saw nothing of note, and the guards doing their rounds were about to pass by. I activate Dust Chamber into its greatsword mode, the 66 inch sword making itself noticeable even under the shade of the trees.

I came from the southeast. There were five guards in front of the boss tent in total—the first one didn't see me coming at all. In a heartbeat, I had slammed the flat of my sword on top of his head, the man crumpling down to the ground like a sack of rocks. The second one tried to turn around quickly, but was met with a problem as I was already on the process of sending a slash towards his neck.

A wound opened, and he gurgled on his blood as it leaked out of his mouth and the new neck wound. He dropped down, eyes lifeless as I moved on to my next target.

The third and final one from the patrol didn't get much of a say before I swiftly thrust Dust Chamber to his chest, probably puncturing a lung. The man gasped and choked as blood went up to his throat. He held the blade of my sword as he tried to pull it out.

I twisted Dust Chamber.

The man gasped and I pulled out the great sword. He fell to the ground face first, dead. Blood pooled around him and his comrades as they died a quick death except for the first one, who was just unconscious, which I rectified with a quick stab to the heart.

Now they're all dead and dying. I should probably be worried that I'm not feeling remorse for killing people—but it would probably hit me later or something if at all.

The two guards outside the tent finally noticed the dead patrol standing in front of me—one of them started to shout out, but I was already in front of him by that time, stabbing my sword through his chest. He gasped as I pulled out and used the momentum for a downward slash towards the other guard, creating a wound on guard 2's chest.

Guard 1 fell to the ground, dead as dead can be. I heard a grumble inside the tent and a shuffle. There were two children inside—both were crying—and I heard a woman, probably below her 30s, talking to a gruff man inside. At best, I could tell from the position of their Aura that the man was holding the children hostage or something similar.

Coming through the entrance was not an option, then.

"—hell is going on out there?" the gruff man from inside shouted. The crying intensified and the woman tried to soothe them. I don't know why the maiden didn't just start dropping bombs—wait, actually, it's probably because the explosions would hit the kids…

Hindsight is 20/20 for me.

The man didn't leave the tent, and I can understand why—if the person outside the tent was strong enough to murder a bunch of guards without alerting you (much), then it's best to stay inside with your hostages. Smart choice for a dumb bandit.

I casually stroll inside. The bandit has a knife to the throat of a small boy—I almost blinked when I saw something floating above his head, too.

 **Red Hale**

 **The Devourer (Dormant)**

 **Traveler**

It was a small boy, really—probably not more than eight years old. He had scarlet red hair and green eyes—a bright combination, really—he was wearing a dull gray sleeveless shirt and brown shorts. He was bruised and had cuts all over his body. He had been crying, obviously, as the tear streaks on his cheeks told me so.

My gaze wandered off to the other child I heard. It was a small girl this time, and she didn't have any special nametags above her head. Judging from their looks, they're twins. Scarlet red hair and green eyes—both bruised and sported several cuts on their body. I raised a brow as I noticed the Summer maiden—which I found out to be true, thanks to the floating nametag above her head—just stare vacantly to space.

Speaking of, she was light skinned and had brown hair. She had amber eyes and her clothes were torn and she was missing the bottom half part of her clothes, signifying something pretty obvious from the way the _male_ bandit was holding himself. It looked like she broke.

 **Sara**

 **Summer**

 **Maiden**

The bandit sneered at me as he held the knife tighter to the boy's throat. Red cried out more as the blade caught blood. "Well well well, what do we have here? A little teenager playing hero?"

I hummed as I spun my sword beside me. The bandit tensed as the blood flicked off my blade and to the random things thrown around the tent—clothes, some lien cards, wallets, and a random necklace. The blood hit the walls, dotting it red. "Who knows?"

The bandit snarled as he pressed the blade tighter. "Don't come any closer! I'll slit this kid's throat! I swear to God I'm going to do it!"

I narrowed my eyes.

Now frankly, I don't really care much about saving people. I find it difficult to really _care_ about someone I have no connections to—this includes my fellow travelers and maidens—but I find it my obligation to at least warn the rest about the incoming problem.

The thing is, this bandit is threatening a _child._ This child might be the Devourer, but he was _dormant._ He wasn't involved in anything yet—and quite frankly, I don't fancy the idea of cutting a child's life in half. He may not be normal after this incident, but at least he would have a life.

I find it hard to respect bandits after my first death too, so I may just be speaking out of spite. This includes, of course, mom's tribe, sans my mom herself.

"The thing is, sir Bandit," I say casually. I strapped my sword to the side as I stretched. The bandit was tense and his eyes were dancing around and looking for openings. There were, of course, none—none that I didn't leave intentionally, of course. "Once the kid dies, I have full permission to kill you."

The bandit laughed as if to boost his own confidence. "Ha! As if a green huntsman like you could actually kill someone! I bet those idiots outside are just unconscious—"

"I wonder…" I mused _. Wonder if mom would approve of me using her tribe's name to save a Maiden?_ "Does the Branwen Tribe ring any bells to you?"

The man's eyes widened and he instantly gaped. The kid within his arms dropped to the ground and scrambled to his sister's company, which was beside the summer maiden. They huddled together and watched us both, wide eyed.

"The—the Branwen Tribe?" The man stammered. I make a show of slowly unsheathing Dust from Chamber, the _shiiing_ echoing within the quiet tent. "That's impossible—they're—they're all the way in Mistral!"

"Oh?" I smile menacingly. It works even without the mask. I see a wet spot forming on the man's crotch as he looked at me in fear. "I suppose this description doesn't ring a bell to you, either? Black hair… red eyes. A sword."

"But—that's…" The man tightened his grip on his knife. "No… fuck you, I'm not going to give up that easily!" he threw the knife at me.

Now, if I was any normal person, I would be stabbed right in the shoulder. It would be painful, the man would gain back his bravado, and attempt to kill me and succeed in doing so, ruining the hopes of the children on the side. Unfortunately for this bandit, I was the **Growth** of this generation, and I was one of the best damn swordsman on the planet.

I casually deflect it to my left, making the knife pierce past the tent and land somewhere undetermined. I hear a howl of pain outside as I spun Dust a few times, setting the flat part of the blade on my shoulder. "Was that all?" I sent him an utterly bored look, taking private enjoyment on the fear-stricken expression he gained on his face. That was probably sadistic of me—no, wait, it _was_ sadistic of me. I don't feel a bit sorry for it at all.

I must be pulling off the right kind of apathy to the situation since the bandit panics more. "Please—I can give you lien! I'll—I'll leave you alone, I promise!"

I hummed. "Well, here's the thing— _I don't care._ "

With a quick slash, he flew back. He hit the wall of the tent, and the supports creaked a bit before the wall forced him to the ground. He hit it with a heavy thump, but there wasn't any blood pooling under him. I raised a brow as I notice a deep blue color flicker around the bandit before fading away—the sign of an Aura shield breaking. "Surprising; you have Aura. I guess that's why you're leading this group of idiots."

The bandit simply gasped for breath as he held his chest. He looked up to me, a glare set on his face as he did so. I walked closer to him and set my booted feet on his head before roughly pushing it down to the ground. "Now, you're going to tell me _exactly_ how you got in Patch, and _exactly_ how you made a road in a couple of days. Or else we're going to have a few… problems."

The bandit made a couple muffled sounds under my boot before going limp. I shake my head as I remove my boot from his head and twirl my sword. I glance at the hostages—the vacant summer maiden, who was getting shaken by the two kids—and call out to them.

"You. I'd suggest you kids go out but I don't think it'll be safe," I twirl my sword and set the point against the man's back. "Don't look, okay?"

My sword went through his back and out his chest neatly. I pulled it out, blood staining my blade. Grimacing, I take out several napkins from my cape and try to wipe out the remaining blood on it. It succeeds, somewhat, but the blade was now soaked with blood that won't go away until I get it to a cleaner. _That's going to be annoying to explain._

Then again, the law is heavily leaning towards the _innocence_ of Hunters so that we could get away with lots of things, so I may not even need to explain anything.

"Y… you killed him," The boy, Red, said softly.

"Mhm," I sheathe Dust and turn to face the trio. The summer maiden was showing no signs of recovery, and the girl was looking more and more distressed as she tried to wake Sara up.

"Come on, Sara," the girl begged the vacant summer maiden. "Please—wake up!"

I gently walk past the boy who was still looking at the bandit leader and touched the maiden's neck. I send a pulse of Aura on her body, but there was no effect.

She was dead. The maiden's powers have already left. I don't know the cause—though it might be the bleeding around her crotch area and wounds all over her body. Blood loss or blunt trauma. Frankly, I don't think she would be quite sane even if I _did_ save her, since she was probably raped more times than she could count. The kids here though, I could probably save them. It's the least I could do for a fellow legend.

 **Quest Updated: The Road Not Taken**

 **Failed: Save the Summer Maiden**

 **Save the children**

"She's dead," I intone. "I would say condolences, but I would be kind of patronizing."

"She's not dead!" The little girl shouted, tears coming out of her eyes. Red was shook out of his stupor when I told them she was dead, and was now looking at me with shock. Or—he was in shock, like the medical problem. "She—She's still alive, please, you have to save her?"

I shook my head and put my hand above her eyes, closing it. "I'm sorry."

The girl finally broke, a stream of tears coming down from her eyes. The boy simply stared at the dead Maiden in shock as he tried to process the multiple things that have probably happened in the last couple days. This might be more troublesome than I thought it would be.

Also! Failing to save the Summer Maiden would be my first time I failed a quest objective. Since the quest didn't dismiss itself, I guess I'm _not_ supposed to save her? Honestly, with these types of shit, I can't tell anymore. I just want to get out of this bandit camp and demolish it.

I… should probably feel remorseful I couldn't do more to save the Maiden, and being honest, seeing the kids cry is shaking me up a little. It reminds me far too much of my own sisters—would this be how they would react if they saw Summer die in front of their eyes—no scratch that, that _is_ how we would react, including me. I would be utterly pissed too, but I could sort of sympathize with the kids.

But I've been basically desensitized from death a long time ago. The loss of a maiden is a great problem—I should probably tell Ozpin that we have a new Maiden. The Summer maiden was one of the unaccounted maidens, the other one being the Spring maiden—but the loss of a parental figure is even greater.

Unfortunately, I can't let them grieve much longer. "Kids," I began. The sobs of the girl lessened as I called to them, and the boy slowly turned his head to me. "We have to go."

"What… what about… Mom?" It kind of broke my heart that they called her Mom, but unfortunately, I'm hardening it just for this mission. I shake my head at her as her head drooped.

"I can't carry her body with you two under my shoulders," Suddenly, I heard a single shout. It was just one, at first, then there were more and more people shouting—I hear the clangs of metal, and people unsheathing weapons. I urgently took the kids under my shoulder and whispered. "We have to go!"

In a burst of speed, I broke out of the tent.

The moment we got out of the tent, I knew that this would be a bit annoying to clean up.

There were three Bullheads flying on the sky, roving around. It doesn't look like two are armed, but one definitely has miniguns welded under its wings. Several bandits roam the area to look for me (I assumed), making typical sneak fashion worthless.

 _I'll just have to use flash step liberally... again._

"Mister, what are we—" The girl was cut off as I executed a _flash step_ towards the forest. Bandits turned to look at my previous area and were now shouting around it, but I was already too far by the time they got there and started looking.

Another use of flash step got the three of us to the bushes. I immediately went prone with the kids under my shoulders, making them grunt as we fell unceremoniously on the dirt. The Bullheads made loud noises on the air, and the girl started muttering prayers to herself. The boy simply takes in deep breaths as I held them down, careful so that they don't accidentally reveal our position.

The Bullheads were gone, back in the camp, probably. I let them go and they immediately got to a much more comfortable sitting position. I inhale deeply as I crouched and put my head above the bushes to observe the bandit camp.

It was in chaos. The Bullheads landed and the bandits were loading up—except for one. My sensor trait detected him as the _strongest_ on the camp—probably stronger than the leader himself. I narrowed my eyes as the black haired bandit looked around as the Bullhead flew.

"Mister, they're getting away!" The boy suddenly latched on to my arm and pointed towards the flying Bullheads. "Come on, you have to get them! They'll—"

"Kid, not every battle should be a massacre," I tell him solemnly. "I don't like killing people—it's not exactly something I like doing. Capturing them all would be far too messy," _I would probably just kill them all since they lack Aura._ "and I don't have any backup to keep them in place."

My eyes lock on to the single man on the impressively quickly cleared out clearing. He held his hands in front of him, and the ground started to _rumble._

The earth suddenly _flipped._ Any remaining trash the bandits left were taken with the earth, and the ground was basically the same it should be before any bandits came to it. My brow raised, I guess I know who did the road in a quick amount of time.

"Whoa…" one of the kids murmured that beside me—I don't know which, I'm too focused on the guy covering up their tracks to look back.

 _I suppose I should deal with this guy for being… a bandit tribe's accomplice._

That gave me a pause. Wouldn't that also make me technically a bandit tribe's accomplice? Though I guess I could excuse it as only being the bandit tribe's _leader_ being the one associated with me since I give her my room sometimes (which happens much more often the past few days. It's never gone past fifteen minutes, though).

I shake my head. Now's not the time.

"Stay here," I roughly pushed the two kids away from the bush.

"Hey!" The kid yelled out before I jumped up to the air. The wind blew upwards with me, making me jump further away. The earth manipulator's head snapped to my direction, his hands twitching towards his back, where he had a bo staff attached.

Now that I was closer, I could see his outfit clearly. He had black hair and green eyes. He wore a brown t-shirt with Kevlar worn above it and black pants and boots. He didn't look anything special, but the way he carries himself was different from the other bandits—much more confident, smooth.

Stronger.

I unsheathed Dust and activated Chamber, both swords held at my sides. Chamber was now a double edged straight sword with a real tip after the greatsword modification, which should help with stabbing.

I narrowed my eyes at him, and he does the same to me. He whips out his bo staff and twirls it around before setting it to the ground, dust kicking up as it hit it.

"So," He started. "Who are you?"

"No one important," I smirked at his annoyed expression. I held Dust at waist level and Chamber at head level, taking a stance all too familiar to me at this point in time.

"No one important?" He mimicked. He held his bo staff with both hands and pointed a tip at me. His feet were apart, suggesting formal training and a much more competent fighter. "I'm sure you're no one important, after killing the bandit leader."

"Mm," We're just stalling each other, at this point. I have no one coming for me—except probably Yang—and he could have the armed Bullhead come back for him. While I could deflect bullets easily enough, I'm not particularly sure about getting shot since the children could get hit by the bullets that I don't deflect. "Any particular reason you're stalling, or..?"

"Stalling?" He seemed amused by the suggestion. "Me? I don't know what you mean."

"Then I guess you won't mind if I—" I cut myself off as I appear in front of him aggressively. His eyes widened as he brings his staff up to block Chamber, which succeeds. He's pushed back a little, and he bats Dust to his side to stop it from going to his stomach. He ducks under a slash to his head from Chamber and jumps back to avoid the slash for his waist.

Unfortunately for him, I was able to catch him off guard and damaged his Aura quite a bit with the last cut to his waist. He grimaced as he held his stomach, a bruise forming. "You're good," He grunted. "Didn't expect that."

"I'm kind of disappointed, really," His eyes widened. He brought up his staff just in time to block an _Eclipse_ attack, both my swords locking with the tougher-than-it-looks staff. "I thought you would be tougher," a strong blast of wind settles our lock. He stumbles back as I push forward, the _Eclipse_ cancelling as soon as it hit the ground. It was enough, however, to slash at his chest to his stomach.

The earth manipulator growled. I stood still and held my swords at my side, smirking mockingly at my enemy. "I suppose this is what I should expect from a common bandit," I stated offhandedly.

I must have pressed a button, because he looked _livid._

 _He probably has an inferiority complex… I could work with that. I can drag out the asshole inside me._

 _You're always an asshole, though._

 _Shut up, Kreutz._

 _Point given._

"And like any common bandit…" I causally slowed down at 'bandit' and inclined my head towards the manipulator. "You're destined to be pathetic."

The man's face went from zero to one hundred. His expression twisted into one of anger as he rushed at me with his staff. He roared as he tried to bring it down on my head, but I simply blocked it with Dust and kicked him the stomach. He coughed up spit as he was sent back.

The moment he touched the ground, however, the ground rumbled. I immediately jumped up as the ground suddenly grew 'cuffs' where my legs should be. I narrowed my eyes as I see the earth manipulator straining while keeping his palms on the ground. Earth pillars grew from the floor, all of them moving straight for me.

 _Vacuum!_ A quick vacuum got me out of their targeted position. I landed with a roll and immediately dashed forward so he couldn't get a lock on me. He kept his hands on the ground as the earth around me was manipulated to his desires. What I know, however, is that this should be costing him a lot of Aura—so all I have to do is outlast him.

A dome of Earth appeared around me—I quickly activated Dust's acid form and activated _Atom_ , which quickly opens a hole on the wall. The edges of the newly formed exit was still glowing green as I jumped through it, launching myself to the air right after I got out. The ground around the dome suddenly grew spikes which pointed towards the sphere, which made me think.

 _So he can't sense through Earth… that's good to know._

The spikes extended towards the sphere, several piercing it and going through the dome. It crumbled apart, the spikes staying in their forms much longer—probably so he could make sure that I was dead. Unfortunately for him, I was only falling towards his body at an alarming pace—fortunately for _me_ , he hadn't noticed.

He suddenly stood up and doubled back as he noticed that my body wasn't there. He looked to the left, then to the right… then he looked up.

I was right above him, an _Eclipse_ ready to strike. He brought his staff up to try and block the attack, but the combined momentum and skill was too much for him. The staff broke in half in his hands, his eyes widening as my sword(s) broke through his guard. The _Eclipse_ hit him square in the chest and makes him fly back, his Aura flickering across his body, signaling the fact that his Aura had faded away.

I casually walk over to him, twirling Chamber and putting Dust on my shoulder. The single edged blade was still glowing green as I approach him, and he tries to crawl back, begging me for mercy.

"Please—I was just forced to do work for the tribe! I didn't want to do this! I didn't really have a choice in all this _please let me live!_ "

"Good grief," I shook my head. I stabbed Chamber on the ground as I pointed Dust at him. "I'm going to make you as ugly as the earth below you."

I stabbed it at his chest, his mouth open in a wordless scream as the acid melted him inside out, ensuring a quick death and easy kill. His chest melts apart and blood spills out of the torn body. I shake my head as I turn around to look at the clearing—there was no permanent damage this time, so I'm keeping my anonymity safe here.

 **Quest Completed: The Road Not Taken**

 **Completed: Save the children**

 **Failed: Save the Summer Maiden**

 **+30000 EXP, -10000 EXP for failing to save the Maiden**

I quickly focus on my sensor trait again to locate the two kids—they were across the clearing. I glanced over at their position and see the boy looking over a bush. I sighed as I walked towards them in a brisk pace. I deactivate Chamber and sheathe Dust, attaching to combination to my side as I stretched my legs. The kid looks up to me with wonder, the young Devourer asking me a question.

"… did… did it feel good?" He asked.

I looked him straight in the eye.

"No. The death of someone—especially a death caused by yourself—will always be bad. You couldn't ever be truly happy by killing someone," I pat his head. I see his sister sat against the bark of a tree, sound asleep. "Revenge isn't the way to solve problems."

"But why?" He persisted on his question. "You saw what they did to mom—she wasn't the only one! That has to be something you'd be mad about, right?!"

"I was mad," I agreed. "And I already guessed that this wasn't their first rodeo since they knew who to hit. But let me tell you one thing, kid."

" _Killing someone is worthless. One life won't bring another back."_

 _I should know. The bandits I killed today… I imagined them to be the thug that killed me in my past life._

 _And I couldn't bring myself back, no matter how much I killed._

* * *

 _ **A/N**_

 _ **Hello**_

 _ **This chapter hits 10k words! Yay.**_

 _ **It's been around 3 weeks. Sorry! I got the real monitor for my PC and started playing games on it and got distracted for a good while. I'll write an omake to make up for it (HA).**_

 _ **Questions!**_

" _ **When's the next update?" NOW.**_

" _ **Is Kreutz named after Erza's armor" Not necessarily, it just popped into my head and when I looked it up, it was a symbol related with Erza's armor. I thought it sounded cool so I kept it.**_

… _**that's it, I think.**_

 _ **Crimson meets the dormant Devourer this chapter, and sees the death of the Summer Maiden (don't worry, her powers already switched hosts.).**_

 _ **Crimson dislikes bandits but doesn't necessarily hate them—hate is a strong word.**_

 _ **The Earth Manipulator that Qrow mentions somewhere around chapter 3 dies here. RIP.**_

 _ **There's a few reasons why there are a bunch of "-kinesis" type users on Remnant… a few important plot points, but nothing I'm willing to reveal yet.**_

 _ **Two children that would be important later on.**_

 _ **Please remember Later On. Not yet.**_

 _ **And that's it!**_

 _ **You guys can skip this omake, it's non-canon… Except the death of one character. You'll know what I mean.**_

* * *

 **Omake: Possibilities**

* * *

Possibilities. There are a several hundred million—no, infinite number of them on the Multiverse, Bluh muses. That was the point of the Multiverse, after all; to test out all the different kinds of situations the Sys Admins could cook up, they be sadistic to the creatures of the universe or be immensely kind to them. Bluh himself was no exception to these experimentations himself.

This was why he was currently observing a string of universes loosely connected to his Alpha universe. There was, however, one universe that caught his eye… and it's not the one that his main creation got a stand that could theoretically crack his universe like an egg.

No, it was… a variable. A variable that wasn't killed in his time, a variable that defied his fate and fought on, despite all odds.

He was quite amused, really. The variable was already quite strong, but he was immensely weakened by the time the real fight came, but surprisingly, this universe didn't quite get him weakened at that time, resulting in a different outcome.

Bluh observes this universe and his Alpha universe, making a mental note to himself to take notes.

* * *

In the Alpha Universe, Hearts Kreutz dies.

He rolled to the side to avoid a beam of yellow, his eyes wide as the beam blew the ground apart. Debris blew into the air, and he ducked to avoid a stray chunk of earth. A half shield forms on one of his arms, blocking a claw strike from a Grimm that looked too similar to a hydralisk to be a coincidence.

The shield around his arm fades as the hydralisk screeched. Kreutz ducked under a slash for his neck and sent his fist towards the Grimm's face. It landed, and a beam of concentrated energy flew out of his closed fist and destroyed the hydralisk's head.

He ducked under a beam of energy, but was sent forward as the explosion damaged him so. He rolled to avoid taking much more damage than he really needs. He stood up and observed his enemies—he had a feeling that this would be… a final battle.

The sun was setting and the sky was clear as he faced off against four Grimm dragons. One of the dragons was leaking blood and the other three were wisely staying far away and shooting energy beams at him. His body was weakening— _it must be poison,_ he thought as he read his status effects. _Nevermind—it_ is _poison_ —and his Aura was drained, unable to recover.

A dragon roared as it shot off a beam towards Kreutz. He retaliated with a beam of his own, the smaller but stronger laser pierced the dragon's beam and diminished it from the inside, the energy fading out from the attack and being siphoned into Kreutz's attack. It hit the dragon square on its belly and exploded, making the dragon cry out as it started to smoke and fall.

" _Master…_ " His hands started glowing. His attack was named after one of his favorite character's moves—wait, scratch that, _most_ of his attacks are named after one of his favorite character's moves—and it was a very simple attack that was very effective against its enemies.

But unlike its namesake, this attack did _not_ need a mini hakkero, it simply needed a metric fuck ton of Aura to use, which Kreutz had in spades and then some.

" _Spark!"_ A pure white beam of utter destruction flew towards the falling Grimm. The dragon screeched as the spark engulfed its whole body, disintegrating its shell and bones. The attack burned the forest behind it, leaving behind a large featureless crater.

 _Shit…_ Kreutz cursed. He fell to a single knee, panting in exhaustion. There were a couple of other dragons earlier—from a mighty ten, the dragons fell to three. His Aura was already quite exhausted, now only up for shields and passives. He had little offensive spells that could see use in this battle, and he _still couldn't regenerate Aura._

 _This is it._ He thought idly as he watched the two dragons shoot their beams at him. _I'm gonna die._ The other dragon screeched as it brought out the army it built to him, Beowolves at front and the bigger, meaner units behind them. _But hell if I won't die without a fight._

 _One final spell._

It was a simple spell really. It utilized the person's full Aura—meaning, it utilized all remaining Aura within the user's reserves and sets them up for a powerful explosion.

One final technique.

He waited patiently for the enemy to arrive. He would not be able to get the two dragons that were going to shoot their beams, but at least, he could say that he took out 8 dragons before he died.

The monsters growled and howled.

He smiled.

 _Kamikaze._

An explosion of Aura.

And Kreutz died a heroic death.

* * *

In the Universe Delta however, Kreutz never got poisoned. He never partook the chocolate cake so generously donated to him by the waitress since the dragons came much earlier than they did at the Alpha Universe. He immediately went out to engage, and the fight went much much smoother than before.

" _Master Spark!_ " A single master spark was formed nigh instantaneously, demolishing a score of Goliaths and a single dragon that came far too close for comfort. A dragon roared in outrage and shot a powerful yellow beam of energy towards Kreutz, but he simply grinned savagely.

" _Adamantine!"_ A shield formed in front of him, a familiar rectangular shield with an equally familiar symbol. The beam pushed him back a little, forming greaves on the ground he was standing on. However, it wasn't enough to fully break his shield. The beam of overwhelming energy became a trickle against his shield, and once the trickle was gone, the shield faded, collapsing into itself with a shower of light particles.

"That was cute," He grinned at the dragons—an astounding nine remaining from the earlier ten. "I can do this all day and nothing would change the outcome of this fight," He had a feeling he was talking to someone important through the dragons—but it was just a feeling. He was recently briefed by Ozpin about the Legends and the queen of Grimm, and while he was still reeling from the information dump, he had already sort of guessed that it was this queen of Grimm that sent these against him. "So why don't you be a dear and go back to mommy?"

The dragons roared as one. A singular dragon hung back from the main group, circling a single point of the forest and dropping down globs of black liquid towards the ground. He had a feeling that whatever that was, it wasn't anything good. Not that he could do anything about it—it was too far out of his effective range. He'll have to deal with it after he deals with the other eight charging dragons.

He held a electric blue dust crystal on his hand—it was, of course, for electricity—and crushed it. Instantly, blue energy started flowing around Kreutz. He closed his black eyes, and when he opened them, they were now a shocking blue.

This was one of his skills—Natural Sage. It allowed him to use a small amount of dust in so many ways—a single crystal would be able to cast _Ragnarok_ , a powerful area of effect spell that would decimate any enemy that it hits. Of course, he can't afford to use Ragnarok right now, since there was a village right behind him. It doesn't mean that he can't use the single crystal for other electric attacks, though!

" _Chain Lightning!"_ A singular ball of electricity shot out of his palms at an incredible speed towards the dragons. It was, however, not that fast as shown that the dragons just weaved around it. Kreutz grinned and tightened his fist.

The ball of electricity _exploded_ into several tendrils of lightning. The surrounding dragons, a mighty number of three, got shocked. Though it wasn't a killing blow (He couldn't hit them in the head, sadly), it was still a powerful enough attack. One dragon was forced to land face first to the forest below, and the other two, still steaming, retreated from their charge.

The fallen dragon was quickly taken care of with a quick _Master Spark_. Kreutz did not want to take any chances with the dragons living and causing him more trouble. _Two down, eight to go._ He grinned savagely and jumped upwards, crushing an Wind crystal in his hands to use the wind to propel him further.

Two dragons came close to engage him in mid-air combat. The Wind Crystal was helping him fly, and he had access to three dimensional dodging. He rolled in mid air to dodge a dragon's charge and formed a quick shield in front of him to dissuade a dragon from hitting him—which failed, because in hindsight, he should have just formed a Spark attack.

He was sent flying back, and the wind crystal's use faded from his status. Immediately crushing another wind crystal to avoid falling to his death, he found himself yelping as he avoided an energy beam from one dragon. A couple of Nevermores had circled around him and he was, quite effectively, blocked from all sides.

"I'm surrounded?" He laughed. "These poor bastards."

By flying further from the village, the Grimm had basically given him an all clear to use his more powerful spells. This was not good—for them. For Kreutz, it gave him a big testing ground to test out his more powerful spells on a remote environment—and with live test subjects to boot!

Crushing an electric and burn dust crystal in his hands, he essentially combined the two elements to create _Plasma._ Lasers, essentially—while he could use his Aura to form Master Sparks, a plasma element addition does make it more lethal and dangerous—and explosive.

 _Perfect._ A pair of dragons were charging him. The Nevermores parted to make way for the dragons. They roared as they charged a beam of energy while they went straight for me, but he already had finished an attack chant—this one was something that Kreutz would _never_ let them forget.

" _Shoot through the heavens…_ " A ball of energy formed between his hands. The mix of blue and red energy spun around the orb within his hands, the overwhelming _power_ sending Grimm to the ground. It even gave the dragons a pause before they continued to charge him, intent on not letting him release the obviously powerful attack. " _Final Master Spark!"_

Three rings formed in front of him, the smallest in front of him and the largest the third circle. There was a thin line at the middle of the circles, the line going past the circles and right at the middle of the dragon.

It was only a little moment of thought that the dragons realized that it was a laser sight.

 _ThoooooOOOOOOOOOM!_

A large beam formed from the smallest circles, growing as large as the third ring in front of him, fully engulfing the dragons and some aerial Grimm in the way. Everything inside the beam was fully disintegrated—nothing was left, the air was dry, and the Grimm that were hit did not even leave a dissolving body. The singular cloud on the sky parted as the beam of energy shot past the atmosphere and into space.

"Whoops," Kreutz shrugged nonchalantly as he turned on his other enemies, already crushing wind, burn, and electric dust in his hands. "I guess I put too much power in that. Want to try another one?"

* * *

Salem was shocked to silence. Inwardly, she cursed herself for forgetting the raw power that **Growth** s had. She cursed herself for not remembering the powerful energy they had—their dense auras and their destructive tendencies. It's been a bit too long, she thought, since she forgot what they were actually like.

What they were like? Why, overkill upon overkill, of course.

Normally, Salem would be able to drag the dragons' consciousness from their disintegrating bodies. That was what the black particles were, after all—they were the Grimm's consciousness before it faded away to the planet, sinking into nature. All she had to do was grab the black particles and reform the body in the Grimmlands before sending it out to the open world again.

But the attack not only destroyed the dragons' body, but they disintegrated the particles too—so she just effectively lost two powerful dragons in their own right—two _rare_ types of Grimm—and the **Growth** didn't even show the slightest bit of exhaustion at the attack!

If she were any lesser woman, she would be sweating bullets. Unfortunately, she was not any lesser woman, but she did know when her troops were outmatched completely.

"This is absurd…" She muttered. _It's time I call for a retreat. Brothers know that the amount of Grimm in that area would not be enough._

This was the first time the world saw a large amount of Grimm retreating from a single man, but Salem swore that it would be the last.

* * *

 _5 years later…_

* * *

Kreutz was running as fast as he can. Qrow was caught sleeping in the house and the kids were nowhere in sight, so he was stretching out his senses to find where the familiar Aura signatures were. Idly, he noticed that Qrow was already out the house and looking for the kids in another direction.

 _Well shit,_ was his thought when he found the children not inside the house. _Taiyang would kill Qrow… because God knows he can't kill me. He'll hurt me though, and I will respect that._

The now 27 year old man sighed deeply as he stopped in place, focusing on all his senses to try and find the kids. He senses them—a bit to the right, but he's technically going at the right direction anyway.

He crushed a wind crystal on his left hand and took to the skies. His eyes narrowed as he flew, giving him a bird's eye view of the forest below.

 _Oh no…_

He saw them—well, he saw one. Crimson, fighting against three Beowolves. He would be worried, but he could sense the other two—they were inside a building, so he's less worried about them and more worried about his mini self who was fighting the Grimm.

He tried to speed up but he was too slow.

Crimson was slashed across the chest. He cried out in pain and fell on his back, the wound… suddenly stitching itself back together. _Aura. Thank God._

But he wouldn't make it in time. He couldn't save Crimson if he was too slow.

 _I need… to go faster… I need more time!_

Everything around him slowed down as he went forward. Time seemed to flow slower as Kreutz charged a miniature _Master Spark_ on both palms. The Grimm seemed to pounce slower.

He arrived just in time to shove a _Master Spark_ to a Beowolf's head, and decimate the other two wolves in the place. Crimson stared at his back, eyes wide as he tried to process his savior.

"Next time," Kreutz grinned as he saw the prompt. _Semblance Unlocked!_ "Try not to go out the house, alright?"

Crimson nodded in affirmative.

* * *

 _10 years… Fall of Beacon._

* * *

He had just sent a red haired girl and blonde boy away inside a rocket locker. His nephew and nieces were nowhere near the tower, and the singular larger than before dragon was attached to the tower. He casually crushed a wind crystal and flew to meet the dragon in combat—but the dragon simply froze before flying off, howling.

 _That's something you don't see everyday,_ He thought, amused. Frankly, he could take care of the dragon very quickly. At this point, he's powerful enough to do so—probably powerful enough to take on a fully realized maiden.

A _fully_ realized maiden—not this cheap imitation of one. His gaze wandered to the top of the tower, where a signature that reminded him of Autumn resided in. _The fall maiden._ Or at least—the one that stole her power.

 _That's one thing that I know from the past 10 years I've been missing._ Technically—he wasn't missing. He was actually somewhere in the Grimmlands stemming the production of powerful Grimm and getting EXP in the process. The Master was there with him, the man that had two natural colors on his hair being a great help with his versatile umbrella and semblance.

He shattered a window with a kick as he landed with a roll inside Ozpin's office. The thief glanced at him with surprise and—dare he says it—a little bit of fear.

"You… that's impossible! You've been missing for years!" She exclaimed. The familiar Aura that she stole bubbled beneath her surprised exterior.

"Have I?" He smiled at her. He stretched out as the green color in his eyes faded, making him lose control of the wind. "How about you just give up? This would make it a lot easier than it would normally be."

The woman recomposed herself ( _Wow,_ he thought. _This woman is something special)_ and sneered at him. "Oh? And you think I would just give up? After I did so much just to achieve… this?" She gestured towards the Grimm attacking the students—the White Fang doing major damage to Beacon's infrastructure.

It was chaos. She had succeeded. She _won._

That was true, he thought. She had already won. This was one of those kinds of problems where he had no time to save the people. He was too late—he didn't notice the signs of the lesser Grimm patrolling around Vale, and Beacon paid the price for his failure.

The 37 year old sighed as he combed a hand across his spiky hair, now streaked with white. "Perhaps. Maybe it's because I've had enough bloodshed my entire life. Maybe it's because I wish to offer a surrender to someone who has the Aura of someone familiar," He stretched out and consumed some Burn and Electric dust, combining them for a lot of Plasma he could use. "Or maybe it's because I really, really hope you just surrender to me so we can avoid fighting out on a school."

Cinder swallowed as she took in the man's pose. She knew how powerful he was—his speed semblance was something to be feared in the way he uses it—speed unmatched by anyone in the world, not even the young silver eyed child could match him. It was something to be feared, especially coming from him, a powerful caster that definitely didn't forget about his own physical conditioning.

In short, he was a walking weapon. An arsenal of attacks and explosive damage. A force of nature.

 _And she had just called it on herself._ Inwardly, she smirked at the small victory of dragging in someone considered important even by her master. She could get rid of a powerful enemy this way! She had the Fall Maiden's power! She—

Suddenly, she was falling.

She released a stream of fire from her hands to propel herself back to the top of the tower, but her eyes widened as she had to dodge a power beam of Aura—no, this was _plasma_. She was warned of this by Salem, but she thought of them as exaggerations. After all, nothing could part the sky, right?

She was dead wrong. She could feel the heat emanating from the laser, threatening to melt her skin off if she even dared to touch it. Her eyes burned just at the thought of it, and her clothes were starting to smoke.

She was suddenly kicked downwards, a beam of plasma exploding at her stomach as she was axe kicked by the one and only. She crashed heavily, forming a crater when she did so, the once clean Beacon courtyard now in shambles. The statue fell apart as she tried to stand up.

Students were looking at her with expressions of confusion and one girl—specifically, the silver eyed warrior—was staring at her, wide eyed.

"Alright kiddies, I'll take it from here," Came the voice of Kreutz, tone amused. "I suggest you get out of here before more Grimm show up—like that one," he punctuated his last addition with a relatively small (she said relatively because the beam was the size of her head) laser that punctured a Goliath square in the head, making it fall to the ground. "Get to the landing bays, boys and girls… I have something I need to finish."

"Uncle Kreutz?" One of the children—a black haired boy with red eyes—asked, his eyes wide. "You—you're—"

"Shush," he chuckled as he waved off the kid. "Save the reunion for later," He charged up another beam and pointed it at Cinder, who was charging up her own attack. "I have some… unfinished business."

She shot her stream of fire towards him, and he shot his beam of plasma towards her. The attacks clashed at the middle, a shockwave of air bursting out from the contact point as the two attacks collided and fought for ground. The students immediately ran off, as the sheer power of the attacks threatened to crack more than the ground if they decided to stay.

Cinder cursed as her fire gave way to the laser. She dashed to the side as the beam passed by her old position and exploded somewhere behind her. She saw him smiling, relaxed.

 _As if he wasn't taking this seriously._

She growled as fire burst around—she stopped.

She was sent flying to the side before she could burn her surroundings, Kreutz taking her place as he kicked her in the waist. He blurred from his position to above her, her eyes wide as she was kicked right in the stomach and into the ground.

"H… how? It's like… you stopped time!" She coughed out. Her Aura flickered around her, the passive shielding now gone as she was beaten soundly. The dragon wasn't coming back, that much was obvious, and the Grimm around them were _terrified_ of the man… and admittedly, Cinder could understand just why.

Kreutz smiled. "Bingo! We have a winner. You see, Miss Fall, your posse took the off chance that I had a semblance of speed," He casually walked over to her. "While it wasn't entirely wrong—you took the chance to think that my speed would be no match for your flaming armor, right? You were setting up for something—probably a field of fire—" he grinned as her eyes widened. "I'm right, aren't I? It happened pretty quickly too—but did you know?" He grabbed her by the collar of her dress, making her gasp as she was dragged up. "Most of us travelers have –kinesis types of semblances. You should have done your research."

 _Chronokinesis,_ she thought as she faced her final enemy. _How… fitting._

"I guess," he chuckled as a light gathered on his other hand. _"_ It's time for you to die, thief."

The **Fall Maiden** died in the hands of **Growth**.

* * *

 _ **A/N**_

 _ **This is why Kreutz stays dead. Kreutz is basically 'fix everything' except he's broken.**_

 _ **I think that's about it for this chapter—nothing really left to talk about.**_

 _ **Also! We broke the 100k words barrier! I'm kind of proud of myself right now! :D**_

 _ **Aaand I think that's about it for this chapter!**_

 _ **This is a semi-serious story,**_

 _ **Take it with a grain of salt**_

 _ **Reviews are appreciated but not necessary.**_


	11. Sorry

_**This isn't really a chapter as much as it is an announcement, but I will include a preview of the upcoming arc (nothing shown here is set in stone, though). Terribly sorry.**_

 _ **Alright, this story isn't dead yet. However, I don't know just how frequent updates will come after this point in time—my inspiration for this story, while strong, isn't good enough for me to pump out chapters weekly, so the updates will be shot.**_

 _ **Another thing about that is the fact that I can barely focus on simply one show for too long; I have ideas for Undertale, Homestuck, some original stuff, and other animes like Fate/SN, Highschool DxD, etc. In fact, it was very taxing for me to focus only on RWBY these past months—not that it was bad, per se, it actually helped me focus a lot—and I just want to branch out, you know?**_

 _ **I am not abandoning this story yet, but I felt the need to tell the people that read this story since I know that some of you guys have been waiting for the next chapter for a bit longer than I would've liked, and I just wanted to say the reasons on why I can't update.**_

 _ **Weellpp, with that out of the way, let me address the power issues.**_

 _ **Crimson does seem OP doesn't he?**_

 _ **Let me fix that image for you; while he's actually really strong, he's only strong for his age. The first encounter with a boss (the Nydus) was different in the sense that Qrow and Crimson didn't have much CC type attacks that could effectively deal with a large amount of monsters, hence their trouble with it until the other Hunters arrived.**_

 _ **The second boss (Aberration) is tough—it regenerates fast and is pretty damn strong, but it's actually really squishy. It sacrifices armor for regeneration, and speed for power. A decent student team could take it out—RWBY probably can. It's main weak point is the bubbles mentioned behind it—if you pop all of them, its regeneration is down for the count and is officially killable. Yang has to occupy it, Ruby and Weiss immobilizes it, Blake goes in for the kill. Someone like Qrow would probably just pierce through its stomach and pop a few bubbles.**_

 _ **The third boss (Robert Rotten haha) was a bit of a weird thing for me, but it would have been handled by Qrow had he not been knocked out. He isn't strong in his own, but apple'd up, he is as fast as Crimson and as strong as a beefed Yang, which is a dangerous combination. However, he is still squishy and his Aura after that is completely gone, hence if he pushes himself too far, he will get cut up by anyone with a blade.**_

 _ **The fourth boss (Flandre) is tough, but not impossible. If I recall, Crimson would have died had he not consumed the Soul Artifact, and I think a team of professional Huntsmen could take it down. Its first phase is effectively just a shield to pierce while dodging the explosive energy projectiles and the one shot laser beams, which would be very difficult if you were a normal civilian, but is sorta manageable as a Huntsman. The energy is blockable and the one shot lasers only come in ones, except during the second phase, the one where they split into four, where they are all independent, but are relatively weaker in comparison. They don't have shields, for one, and are easily killed with sharp weapons.**_

 _ **The fifth boss (Arachne) is a giant, and was beaten with the combination of Venn and Crimson. It's not because Crimson was OP, but mainly because the Arachne was facing a bad match up—Venn is an army killer and a giant killer rolled into one. With his explosive spears, he can bombard it from afar and demolish any kind of army it will create—of course, Venn at that time was underestimating himself, thinking himself weaker than he was at his prime. He had stopped being a fighter and only resurfaced his spirit when Crimson didn't take the offer to run.**_

 _ **The sea dragons were killable, as shown by Sun and Blake, and during the pod of whales, I didn't get to describe that there were more weak whales than strong ones. There seemed to be more strong ones because that was what Crimson was after, leaving the small ones to the crew.**_

 _ **I didn't really compare Crimson to an average Huntsman in this story yet, so I understand why it's easy to think that he's broken. Thing is—so is everyone else. He isn't broken yet, hah.**_

 _ **Aand I think that's it. Next will be the "trailer" of the next arc, which will take place outside of Vale (hiss, research).**_

* * *

"Oh, good thing you called, Venn, I was just going to ask—"

"I lost contact of the Master."

"What?!"

* * *

"Where did he go?"

"I don't know."

"Ugh, he's so annoying. He gets home for a week then leaves for a mission right after."

* * *

"I hope you understand what you're implying, Mister Branwen."

"I understand completely. I'm going in, whether you like it or not."

* * *

" _Flesh is his gift.."_

"Just give up."

" _True torment…"_

"You're weak, young. Inexperienced."

" _Lasts forever."_

"I'm not showing any more mercy," he twirls his black umbrella, pointing the tip at me. It glows with a bright blue light, and my eyes widened as I hear electricity crackling inside. "So when you die?"

 _Click._

 _Whirr…_

"Stay down."

* * *

 _ **Aand that was pretty much the trailer. Sorry for everyone who was expecting a real chapter—but once again, updates will be slow going (like, for real this time) since I would be spreading my focus more.**_

 _ **So TL;DR, I'm not abandoning this story, but I'm not going to update it much either.**_

 _ **Thanks for reading this, everyone.**_


End file.
